For a casual goodbye in English, we might say See you later, alligator or After while, crocodile. Many languages have similarly silly rhyming goodbyes. In Spanish, you can say Ciao, pescao! or “Bye, fish!” In Dutch, it’s Aju paraplu! or “Bye...
In British English, the exercise known as push-ups in the United States goes by the name press-ups. The Spanish term is lagartijas, a lagartija being a small lizard that sometimes moves in a similar way. The English word alligator comes from the...
The glow in the eyes of some animals is called eyeshine, and the adjective that describes such shimmering in a cat’s eyes is chatoyant, from French for “cat.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Eyeshine” At the top of the show, we...
Do you listen to our show on an alligator radio? We’re guessing not, since this bit of trucker slang refers to the CB radios that transmit a strong signal but are terrible for receiving. Like an alligator, they’re all mouth and no ears. This is part...
If you’re driving an 18-wheeler and want to warn fellow truckers about a piece of blown tire lying in the middle of the road, you’d tell them to watch out for the alligator. Come to think of it, the crocodilian reptile and the rubber remnant do...
alligator shear n.— «Mr. Graap and Agents Stern and Green moved into a brick building where a squat steel machine that was painted green and run by hydraulic power—known in the business as an alligator sheer for its resemblance to that reptile’s...