A caller from Russia wonders about the English idiom can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. What’s so hard about walking and chewing gum? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time” Hello, you have A Way...
Why are detectives in old movies and mystery novels called gumshoes? The term gumshoe derives from the image of shoes with soles made of gum rubber, which offered an improvement over the wood traditionally used for the bottom of a shoe, since those...
What does it mean to look like a dog chewing waspers? Or like a possum eating persimmons? And what does it mean when someone says, “He was grinning like a mule eating briars”? These idioms, which have been recorded in Kentucky and Virginia, refer to...

