Ben Yagoda’s new book Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English, based on his blog Not One-Off Britishisms, which features words and phrases that are originally British but are being used more and more in the States, including cushy...
In the US, if you’re ambivalent about something, you’re said to be of two minds. In the UK, however, they use a different preposition — they’re said to be in two minds. Also, Americans talk about brainstorms, which in the UK are called brain waves...
A listener from Dallas, Texas, wonders why we say “here, here” to cheer someone on, and “there, there” to calm someone down. Actually, the phrase is “hear, hear,” and it’s imperative, as in, listen to this guy. “There, there,” on the other hand is...
Columnist Lucy Kellaway wrote in the Financial Times about feeling less anxious and fearful in the workplace as she gets older. She concluded that such feelings are bog standard, a British expression meaning “common” or “widespread.” This is part of...
If something needs to be carefully extracted, you’ll want to winkle it out. This Britishism comes from winkles, those edible snails that must be gingerly pulled out of their shells. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Winkle it Out”...
Phil in Indianapolis asks about the verb vet, now common in political talk. It comes from veterinarian. The term was in horse racing by the mid-1800s, when a vet checked horses before a race to make sure they were sound and hadn’t been tampered with...