Kinsey from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is looking for a term that denotes the silence that falls around a dinner table when the food arrives and everyone is really enjoying it. Some possibilities include German gefressenes Schweigen, or “voracious...
A listener remembers her grandmother’s colorful comment when someone arrived late after getting lost: You went around your elbow to get to your thumb. Lots of similar sayings in English suggest roundabout routes or overcomplicated tasks, including...
Tommy in Lexington, Kentucky, reports that when he was serving in the U.S. military in Vietnam he heard the expression Mox nix, meaning “I don’t care” or “It doesn’t matter.” It’s a version of a German es Macht nichts, or “It’s nothing.” This is...
Bill calls from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to say his late wife, who was from South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, would jokingly tell him You talk like a sausage! What exactly did she mean? Although Germans have many expressions that include the word...
A woman in Bowling Green, Kentucky wonders: How did the phrase wet behind ears come to describe someone who’s inexperienced? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Wet Behind the Ears” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Laura...
Mealy-mouthed is an old phrase meaning someone’s vague, equivocal or beats around the bush. Even Martin Luther used a German version of the insult, “Mehl im Maule Behalten.” Luther, in fact, was quite experienced at tossing out creative jabs, and...