If someone’s impatiently pounding on your front door, you might respond Keep your pants on! The origin of this phrase is unclear, though it may be related to keep your shirt on, and other expressions that refer to partially disrobing before a...
To fill your boots means “to go after something with gusto.” Similarly, the tableside injunction Fill your boots! is an invitation to chow down. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “”Fill Your...
The title Winter’s Bone, an acclaimed film based on Daniel Woodrell’s country noir novel, is an idiom the author created by personifying the season, which throws the main character a bone. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...
Saucered and blowed is an idiom meaning that a project is finished or preparations are complete, but it’s not that odd—Bill Clinton’s used it. It derives from the rustic practice of spilling boiling-hot coffee into a saucer and blowing...
Add blow a gasket to your list of Downton Abbey anachronisms. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Historical Anachronism” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Yes, good afternoon. Hi, who’s this? This is Julio Tierno...
Not bad-which, like many phrases, sounds cool when you say it with an English accent-is an example of litotes, or an understatement used for effect. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Expression “Not Bad””...