Alex in Lexington, Kentucky, is curious about the term sidesaddle gift. It denotes a gift that the giver ends up using at least as much as the recipient does, such as a luggage rack that a frequent guest gives to their host family. The term...
In German, ein Korb geben–literally, to “give a basket”—means to “turn down a potential date.” This idiom derives from a medieval legend about a castle-dwelling woman. Instead of letting her hair down for a suitor she didn’t fancy, she let down a...
Cat face is a cute way to describe something like a piece of fruit or a tree that’s grown in on itself, giving it a puckered kind of indentation. Particularly in the African-American community, it’s used to denote a wrinkle to be ironed out. This is...
A push present is a gift a father gives to a mother for giving birth. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Push Presents” Grant, you know what a push present is? Yes, this is a gift that a father buys for a mother who just gave birth...
The idiom “rob Peter to pay Paul,” means “to borrow someone from someone in order to repay someone else.” In Nicaragua, the same idea is expressed by a phrase that translates as “take Juan’s clothes to give them to Pedro.” This is part of a complete...
If you say to someone the Spanish equivalent of “you’re giving me green gray hairs” (me sacas canas verdes), it means that person is making you angry. In Japan, the phrase that literally translates as “one red dot” refers metaphorically to “the lone...