A listener named Lita who grew up in Cuba shares her favorite Spanish idiom for “working hard”: sudando tinta, or literally, “sweating ink.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Sweating Ink” We had a voicemail from Lita...
An astute German phrase about procrastination translates as “In the evening, lazy people get busy.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Lazy People” Here’s the translation of a German phrase about...
Here’s a fun paraprosdokian: I like work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Work Paraprosdokian” We’ve talked before about paraprosidokians, those...
Writers always seem to come up with brilliant quotes about writing, and why shouldn’t they? Douglas Adams has noted, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” And Gloria Steinem once quipped: “I...
Tony from Blacksburg, Virginia, asks why a meeting that gets pushed back is usually postponed to a later time, even though the phrase can sound as if it should mean moved earlier. The confusion depends on how speakers picture time moving along a...
suspense adj.— «Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Army’s term for a deadline is a “suspense,” sometimes abbreviated simply “S:” and followed by a date. The first time I was told that I had to “meet a suspense,” I didn’t know where to...