Jeffrey in New Bern, North Carolina, asks why right as rain means “all correct.” The expression goes back to at least the late 19th century, and it long outlasted similar alliterative phrases like right as the bank and right as nails. No one knows...
Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley is a thrilling rendition of the centuries-old poem. (Bookshop|Amazon) Headley translates the poem using modern vocabulary and even internet slang, with results that are, as one reviewer put it...
Dana in Reno, Nevada, wants a word for that moment when you’re playing cards or a board game and you draw what would have been the perfect card or tile for the previous turn you played. She suggests post-perfect pickup. Might there be others...
You know when you’re waiting behind other cars to make a left turn at a traffic light but the pokey driver ahead of you is so inattentive (On their cell phone? Daydreaming? Shaving? Taking a nap?) that you end up having to sit through another...
A fan of Bruce Springsteen’s song “Dancing in the Dark” called to say that she’s noticed the lyrics are awfully sad for such a peppy tune, and wonders if there’s a word for this phenomenon. Lyrical dissonance would do the...
An American who worked as an au pair in Italy found that children there didn’t seem to react so positively to fun sayings like, “No way, Jose” or “Ready, Freddie?” Yet some research suggests we’re primed to love...
