Our conversation about Spanish idioms involving food prompted a tweet from Tijuana, Mexico: del plato a la boca, se cae la sopa, or between the dish and the mouth, the soup spills, or don’t count your chickens before they hatch. A similar idea is...
The phrase to be nebby is heard particularly in Western Pennsylvania, and means to be “picky” or “gossipy.” Originally, it meant “nosy” or “snooping.” Nebby is a vestige of Scots-Irish, where the word...
A family saying loose lips sink ships is a joking warning to keep a secret, not pass it on. Sharon from Omaha, Nebraska, grew up with her grandfather using it any time a confidence was at stake. The expression dates to World War II propaganda...
How conversational fillers such as like and you know creep into our vernacular? Like most verbal ticks and pieces of vocabulary, we pick these things up from those around us. But contrary to some folks’ opinions, the use of like and you know...
Amanda in La Mesa, California, wonders why her roommate didn’t recognize scuttlebutt, meaning gossip. The word comes from nautical use, where a scuttlebutt was a cask of drinking water, a butt, with a hole cut in it, from scuttle, to cut a hole...
foiler n.— «Note that Blair won’t be an only child for long if Cyrus does marry Eleanor. His son Aaron (the artist now dating Serena) would become Blair’s step-brother, just like in the books. Oh, and just a warning to anyone searching...