Elena in Mt. Holly, North Carolina, wonders why beeline means “a direct route.” Well, once a bee has gathered sufficient nectar from flowers, she flies in a straight course back to the hive. In The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861...
Paula in Cheyenne, Wyoming, shares a funny story about a little girl who misunderstood the word hummingbird. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hovering So Close to Understanding” We heard from Paula Egan Wright in Cheyenne, Wyoming...
Aaron, a law enforcement employee in the Midwest, asks about honey hole, used at work for a spot where parking citations are easy to write. The phrase honey hole has many recorded uses and meanings, including a hole in a tree or ground filled with...
If you’re on tenterhooks, it means you’re in a state of anxious anticipation or suspense. But what IS a tenterhook? The answer goes back to a 15th-century manufacturing process. Also, you probably have a term for those crumbs that collect in the...
A 1904 dialect collection tipped us off to this variation on the idea of going to the land of milk and honey: “Going to find the honey spring and the flitter tree,” flitter being a variant of fritter, as in something fried and delicious. This is...
What pet names do you have for your loved ones? In The Joys of Yiddish, Leo Rosten shares the name his Mother used to call him — bubala, a term of endearment grandmothers might use in addressing children. We have all kinds of substitutes for the...