A listener in Unadilla, New York, says her husband, whose family is French-Canadian, uses the phrase That burns my onions when something irritates him. There are several kitchen-related metaphors used to express anger, including that steams my...
So you think you can spell? Youngsters in modern spelling bees are expected to memorize a wide range of words, from chemical processes to names of rare animals. Also: In many languages, the word for “mother” begins with the letter M —...
There’s no evidence that anyone named Sam Hill inspired the phrase What in the Sam Hill? It’s almost certainly just a euphemism for What in the hell? This is part of a complete episode.
Chris from Kittery, Maine, wonders about the colloquial expression no sirree, Bob! or yes sirree, Bob!, which is an emphatic way of saying “definitely not!” or “no way!” The sirree (sometimes spelled with one r, as siree) in...
Ribbon fall. Gallery forest. You won’t find terms like these in most dictionaries, but they and hundreds like them are discussed by famous writers in the book Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape. The book is an intriguing collection...
If you speak both German and Spanish, you may find yourself reaching for a German word instead of a Spanish one, and vice versa. This puzzling experience is so common among polyglots that linguists have a name for it. • The best writers create...