Michelle in Pembroke Pines, Florida wonders why performers wish each other luck with the admonition Break a leg! This practice of wishing the opposite of what you really mean appears across a wide range of theatrical traditions. German performers tell each other Hals- und Beinbruch (literally, “May you break your neck and your leg”) and Italians use the phrase in bocca al lupo (literally, “into the mouth of the wolf”), the response to which is crepi il lupo or “May the wolf die.” Other performers often saytoi toi toi, as if spitting, in an effort to ward off the devil. This is part of a complete episode.
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
If someone’s got melon, it means they’re smart. The expression most likely arose because of the resemblance between a melon and a human head. Several other foods are associated with having brains, including a cabbage, a gourd, and even a...
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