Outside the United States, American football is sometimes jokingly called handegg–a reference to the shape of the ball and the fact that it’s carried in the hands. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Handegg” I don’t follow sports...
Brian from Edison, New Jersey, is pondering this linguistic mystery: The Mid-Atlantic convenience store chain Wawa has a goose as its logo. The Algonquin term for “goose” is wawa, and the French for “goose” is oie, pronounced “wah.” Is there a...
Five guys walk into a diner. One orders a toad in the hole, another the gashouse eggs, the third gets eggs in a basket, the next orders a hole in one, and the last fellow gets spit in the ocean. What does each wind up with? The same thing! Although...
A grandmother in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, is curious about the advice don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs. This idiom is used as a warning not to presume that you know more than your elders, and may be connected with the old practice of...
An old book of similes contains such gems as it’s easy as peeling a hardboiled egg and it’s as hard to shave as an egg. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Old-Fashioned Similes” I’m plundering the old books again, Martha. What else...
Why do some puns strike us as clever, while others are plain old groaners? Martha and Grant puzzle over this question. Also, the difference between baggage and luggage, a royal word quiz, the “egg” in egg on, what to call someone who doesn’t eat...