In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It’s the act of trying to hide your...
Steven in Cavendish, Vermont, remembers this saying from his Cockney grandfather: There I was on the dog and bone, with me mate Charlie, when my trouble and strife took a tumble on the apples and pears, and I couldn’t Adam and Eve it. It’s a bit of...
If you watch British police procedurals, you’ll likely come across the term to grass someone, meaning “to inform on someone” or “to rat someone out.” It’s a bit of British rhyming slang that originated with the 19th-century phrase to shop on someone...
The history of the exclamation Lord love a duck!is unclear, but it may be a euphemism for a rhyming curse word or for the mild oath For the love of Christ! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of ““Lord Love a Duck” Origin” Hello, you have...
Jay in Fort Worth, Texas, grew up in Wisconsin hearing kibosh as KIB-bosh, not the more common KYE-bosh. To put the kibosh—also spelled kybosh—on something is to stop it decisively and fast; the word has also been used as a verb and even an...
A woman who grew up in India says she was baffled when someone with aching feet complained, “My dogs are barking.” The answer may lie in a jocular rhyme. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “My Dogs are Barking” Hello, you have A Way...