Gay in Tucson, Arizona, remembers her grandmother inviting guests in with take off your cape and fascinator and have a seat. Originally, a fascinator was a kind of scarf that held one’s hair in place and added an air of mystery, and thus...
We’ve previously discussed when pigs fly and other idioms expressing profound skepticism that something will occur. That prompted an email from Guillermo in Tucson, Arizona, who shared a Spanish phrase that conveys a similar idea: cuando la rana...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...
Eric often drives past cotton fields near his home in Tucson, Arizona, which has him wondering about the phrase He’s walking in tall cotton, meaning “Things are going well.” Variants include to be in tall cotton and to walk in high cotton. This is...
Names don’t always mean what you think they mean. Main Street in San Francisco is named for businessman Charles Main. Snowflake, Arizona, is named for Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “When...
An amateur herpetologist in Tucson, Arizona, notes that there’s a raging debate among his fellow reptile enthusiasts about the term in situ, which is Latin for “in place.” Is it “in SIT-too,” “in SITCH-yoo,” “in-SYTE-too,” or “in-SEE-TOO.” The...