Angela calls from Albany Township, Maine, because she’s puzzled by the slang she hears from younger professionals in her field. She designs wigs and styles hair for actors, and recently she’s heard them use the word eat in a new and...
Mary in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that her parents used to refer to the time before she was born as back when you were chasing flies in Egypt, the equivalent of when you were just a twinkle in your mama’s eye or twinkle in your...
Tim from Kalamazoo, Michigan, reports his dad used to say You can give them books and give them books, but they just chew the covers right off. He’d use this expression when he felt someone wasn’t following instructions or failing to...
Gabby in San Diego asks about the origin of smitten, a word she likes enough to want it on a vanity license plate. Smitten is the past participle of smite, the old verb meaning “to strike” or “to beat,” familiar from the King James Bible. The...
The expression “dark as Egypt” means really dark, and is a reference to the story in the book of Exodus of the ten plagues that descended upon Egypt, the ninth of these being complete darkness. This is part of a complete episode...
David in Kingston, Ontario, asks whether his wife’s slow as Moses is a mistaken version of slow as molasses. It’s a real expression, though much less common than the syrupy one, and it likely refers to Moses as a biblical example of a very long...