In English, if you doubt what someone is telling you, you can say so with such idioms as Stop pulling my leg or Pull the other one — it has bells on. Other languages have similarly colorful phrases for expressing skepticism. In French, you might say...
The colorful Spanish idiom planchar la oreja means “to sleep,” but translated literally, it means “to iron the ear,” alluding to flattening one’s ear on a pillow. This is part of a complete episode.
In Norway, the idiom pling i bollen, or literally, “a pinging sound in a bowl,” describes someone “empty-headed” or “stupid.” This is part of a complete episode.
If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you is an English idiom suggesting that the listener is gullible. It’s widespread throughout the United States. On our Facebook group, listeners shared other versions, including one that...
Stephanie in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was puzzled when a colleague used the expression like grabbing a wolf by the ears to describe an impossible task. Like the idiom to have a tiger by the tail, it suggests the paralyzing difficulty of having hold of...
Nine-year-old Evie calls from Texas to ask about the origin of the phrase raining cats and dogs. This idiom alludes to the cacophonous nature of a heavy downpour. Around the world, expressions about torrential rain also connote the idea of a noisy...
