In English, to wait until the cows come home, means you’ll wait a long time. In French, it’s attendre la semaine des quatre jeudis, literally, to “wait for a week of Thursdays.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...
A French idiom that means “to sleep in” or “lie around lazily in bed after waking” is faire la grasse matinée, literally to “make the fat morning.” If you fall in love easily, you’re said to have un coeur...
The Finnish verb kehrätä can mean “to spin thread” or “to purr like a cat.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Kehrätä” There is a lovely Finnish word that means both to spin thread and to purr as...
The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop. A medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you’re close to another dimension of space and time. There’s a term for such locales: thin places. And: did you ever go...
What do you call a segment of an orange? These juicy pieces of fruit go by lots of different names, including section, wedge, and carpel. But they’re also called pegs or even pigs! The stringy parts of a banana also have a surprising name...
In Spanish, desahogar means “to vent” or “to let out one’s emotions.” Literally, it means to “undrown.” Ahogarse en un vaso de agua means “become overwhelmed” — literally, “to drown...