Depending on its mood, a turkey’s skin can shift from red to blue to white, due to changes in the blood vessels between bundles of collagen. That phenomenon is reflected in the Japanese term for “turkey,” shichimencho (七面鳥), which translates as “seven face bird.” There’s a similar word in Korean. In Ireland, someone who’s arrogant or self-important might be described in one of the following two ways: If you’ve been to Tenerife, he’s been to Elevenerife or If you’ve got an elephant, he’s got the box it came in. Those are just some of the picturesque expressions that writer Adam Sharp has gathered in his book The Wheel is Spinning But the Hamster is Dead: A Journey Around the World in Idioms, Proverbs and General Nonsense. (Bookshop|Amazon). This is part of a complete episode.
According to Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English (Bookshop|Amazon) by Ben Yagoda, the word smarmy, meaning “unctuous” or “ingratiating,” may come from a 19th-century magazine contest, in which readers sent in...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
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