What exactly is a planet? Controversy over this question led to Pluto’s redefinition, along with a brand-new English word. And: Some people now use the phrase all the things! to mean and whatnot or you know what I mean. This new sense of all the things comes from a hilarious cartoon in which someone approaches daily tasks with exceptional vigor. Speaking of which, if you’re working hard and burning the midnight oil, what kind of oil are you burning, anyway? Plus curfew, shoo it away!, a kibitzing quiz, Irish wristwatch, quemar las pestañas, the hawk that’s a cold wind, hot as brinjer, virar a noite, and sigma male.
This episode first aired September 28, 2024.
Shoot, I Was Sure It Was Shoe and Not Shoo
Whitney from Providence, Rhode Island, shares a funny story about her toddler’s misunderstanding of the word Shoo, as in Shoo it away. It has nothing to do with the shoe you wear on your foot!
All the Things!
A Dallas, Texas, woman and her friends often use the expression All the things to mean something like and whatnot or as a way to signal a kind of mutual understanding, suggesting something similar to the phrase you know. This sense probably comes from a meme based on a post on Allison Brosch’s blog Hyperbole and a Half, which features a wild-eyed character vowing to Clean all the things! This joke has since transferred to the idea of energetically attacking an ambitious set of projects, and to the general notion of a lot of items or activities.
Enticing Siren Songs to Warning Siren Sounds
In Greek myth, the sirens were women with the bodies of birds whose song was so alluring that it enticed men to their death. In the early 19th century, French engineer and physicist Charles Cagniard de la Tour built a device that sent blasts of air through perforated metal disks to make a loud, wailing noise. Having found that the device also produced sound even when submerged, he called his invention the sirène, the source of the English word for such a device, siren.
You Can’t Make Chocolate Out of It
If someone is speaking in a way that’s confused or unintelligible, a Dutch saying applies: Er is geen chocola van te maken describes something incomprehensible, but literally translates as “You can’t make chocolate out of it.”
Alternative Riddle Answers
Quiz Guy John Chaneski says he and his fellow puzzlers often kibitz over familiar riddles, thinking up alternative answers. For example, the answer to “What month do people sleep the least?” is “February,” because that month has the fewest days. But if you wanted to take issue with that answer, what might you say?
Curfew From a Command to Cover Fires
The word curfew comes from a French expression that means “cover your fire” and goes all the way back to a similar phrase in Latin.
Say “Irish Wristwatch” Five Times Fast
After our chat about tongue twisters, a Chicago, Illinois, listener shares one that looks much easier than it sounds: Irish wristwatch.
I’m Burning the Midnight Oil Because I’m a Singer
Eduarda phones from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to ask about the English expression burn the midnight oil, meaning “to work late.” The phrase goes back to the days of having to use oil lamps for illumination at night. A Spanish idiom somewhat along these lines, meaning “to work or study into the wee hours” is quemar las pestañas, or literally, “to burn the eyelashes.”
“The Hawk’s Out” Means There’s a Cold Wind
Michael from Jones, Michigan, says he was stationed on a U.S. Army base in Germany in the early 1960s. If there was a gust of cold wind, a fellow soldier would say the hawk’s out. This expression is largely associated with Chicago, Illinois, where the hawk refers to the frigid wind coming off of Lake Michigan and the bear is sometimes used to mean “bitter cold.” As early as the 1870s, the terms Hawkins, and Old Hawkins, and Old Mr. Hawkins were applied to “cold weather.” The idea may have been reinforced by the fact that in the 1930s, jazz musician Coleman Hawkins blew the saxophone and was nicknamed the Hawk.
Turn Over the White Night
The Portuguese idiom virar a noite refers to doing something all night, such as studying or dancing. Literally, virar a noite means “to turn over the night.” In French a sleepless night is a nuit blanche, or “white night.”
Pluto’s Planetary Fate? Not Great
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union kicked Pluto off its planetary pedestal. In his delightful book How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming (Bookshop|Amazon) astronomer Mike Brown recounts the events leading up to the demotion of that celestial body and the controversy over the definition of the word planet. The resulting change in nomenclature was such big news worldwide that, in a run-off against the term climate canary, the American Dialect Society voted the neologism plutoed its 2006 “Word of the Year.” The word planet derives from the Greek word planētēs (πλανήτης) which means “wanderer.”
Sigma Male Slang
Catina from Abilene, Texas, says her young daughter and her friends fondly refer to each other with the word sigma. The slang terms sigma and sigma male were originally used in the manosphere to denote “an outsider,” and carried a somewhat derogatory sense. In the manosphere, an alpha is someone who is dominant, deriving from the mistaken belief that wolf packs have a single alpha figure, and a beta is someone who is not dominant. By 2010, sigma had left the manosphere and has since acquired a more positive connotation.
Hot as Brinjer, Cold as Brinjer
Leslie from Hickory, North Carolina, is curious about an expression her grandmother used when the weather was particularly warm. Leslie never saw the expression spelled out, but she guesses it was hot as bringup, and pronounced with a soft g. Was that saying uniquely hers? The more common version is hot as brinjer, an expression that’s likely related to the Scots word breenge, which as a verb means “to rush forward recklessly” and as a noun means “a punch” or “a blow.” In the Scots language, a breengin is “a beating.” In Southern Appalachian dialect, brinjer appears in comparative phrases expressing something extreme, such as hot as brinjer, cold as brinjer, and in statements such as today’s a brinjer or it’s brinjin’ cold today.
Sleazy Meaning Thin or Flimsy — Not Disreputable
Lisa calls from Huntsville, Alabama, to say that whenever Lisa was looking sharp in an attractive dress, one “tight enough to show that you’re a woman and loose enough to show that you’re a lady,” her mother would compliment her by saying her dress was sleazy. This adjective has undergone a transformation in the 300 years it’s been around. Early on, it referred to the lanugo or downy hair on the legs of insects or to something hairy or fuzzy. Sleazy later transferred to things that were thin or flimsy, and specifically to textiles or fabrics with those characteristics.
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Book Mentioned in the Episode
Music Used in the Episode
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black Organ | Jackie Mittoo | The Keyboard King at Studio One | Universal Sound |
| Everyday I Have The Blues | Jimmy McGriff | Fly Dude | Groove Merchant |
| Totally Together | Jackie Mittoo | The Keyboard King at Studio One | Universal Sound |
| Hot Tamale | Jackie Mittoo | The Keyboard King at Studio One | Universal Sound |
| Healin’ Feeling | Jimmy McGriff | Fly Dude | Groove Merchant |
| The Other Side | Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | Step Down | Colemine Records |
