In Spanish, someone who’s conceited may be described as considering themselves la ultima Coca-Cola del desierto or “the last Coca-Cola in the desert.” Similar Spanish phrases are rendered in English as “the last beer in the stadium” or “the last...
Store clerks: If someone asks for a case quarter in change, it means they don’t want two dimes and a nickel or five nickels. They want a single 25-cent piece. Same for a case dollar, case dime, or case nickel. The customer is asking for a...
In this downbeat economy, some advertisers are reaching for upbeat language. Take the new Quaker Oats catchphrase, “Go humans go,” or Coca-Cola’s current slogan, “Open happiness.” Martha and Grant discuss whether...
water neutral adj.— «Last June, Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell flew to Beijing and pledged that his company would become “water neutral”—every drop of water it uses to produce beverages would be returned to the earth or...
It’s the wacky title of a new book by language enthusiast Elizabeth Little which has Martha and Grant talking about whether Coca-Cola and Chevy ran into cultural translation problems when selling products abroad. Did the Chevy Nova really sell...
black aspirin n. 1. (in Australia) a cola-based soft drink. 2. (in U.K. prisons), a kicking assault of a prisoner by guards. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)