A podcast listener in Buenos Aires, Argentina, wonders about the differences between the words compassion, sympathy, and empathy. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Differences Between Compassion, Empathy, and Sympathy” Hello...
One way of saying someone’s a tightwad or cheapskate is to say he “has fishhooks in his pocket,” meaning he’s so reluctant to reach into his pocket for his wallet, it’s as if he’d suffer bodily injury if he did. In Australia, a similar idea is...
What English-speakers call speed bumps or sleeping policemen go by different names in various parts of the Spanish-speaking world. In Argentina, traffic is slowed by lomos de burro, or “burro’s backs.” In Puerto Rico that bump in the road is a...
In northern Sweden, the word yes is widely communicated by a sound that’s reminiscent of someone sucking through a straw. It’s called the pulmonic ingressive. Linguist Robert Eklund calls this a neglected universal, meaning that it’s only recently...
Say cheese! isn’t the only phrase photographers use to get people to smile. Sometimes French speakers ask the subject of a photo to say ouistiti, which means “marmoset.” Omniglot has a collection of these terms from photographers around the world...
“El pez se muere por la boca” is a wise and vivid Spanish proverb. It means “the fish dies by its mouth.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Spanish Proverb” Well, for a while there, it was impossible to miss the stories about radio...