TagGreens

Fibber McGee Drawer

What do you keep in your Fibber McGee drawer? That’s what some people call a catchall container for household items. Grant traces the term for the drawer back to the old Fibber McGee and Molly radio comedy. Whenever Fibber had to fetch something...

Mondegreens

A listener was confused when she heard a radio announcer say a man had β€œAmanda Lynn” in his hands, only to find out that it was β€œa mandolin.” These funny misheard phrases are called mondegreens, a term coined in Sylvia Wright’s 1954 Harper’s...

Colorful Idioms

If you say to someone the Spanish equivalent of β€œyou’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 β€œone red dot” refers metaphorically to β€œthe lone...

A Mother’s Playful Interjections

A Green Bay, Wisconsin, caller is curious about her mother’s playful interjections. If someone said, β€œWell,” her mother would add, β€œWell, well. Three holes in the ground.” If someone started a sentence with β€œSo” she’d interject, β€œButtons on your...