Rod in Alexandria, Louisiana, says that in his real estate business, cut to the chase means to “get to the bottom line.” In the early days of the movie industry, when a sagging plot could be livened up by cutting directly to an exciting...
A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what’s the flash part of that word about? Also, if you’re a nervous Nellie, you’re skittish and indecisive—both characteristics of an American politician who earned that nickname in the...
Joey from Orono, Minnesota, has been learning Italian and its many idioms, which makes him wonder if there are other languages that can simply be learned in a classroom without input from a larger cultural context of new and evolving expressions...
In 1944, an Italian scientist discovered a drug that he later named for his wife. His wife’s name was Marguerite, but she went by Rita — which is why this now familiar drug is known as Ritalin. Plus, a poem about churning butter shows how a...
If someone’s extremely annoyed or frustrated, you describe them with the idiomatic expression they’re fit to be tied. But where did this saying come from? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Fit to Be Tied, But How...
In Appalachia, if you ignore better choices before choosing a lesser one, such as a mate, you might be said to fly all over a daisy field and settle on a cow pile or flit like a butterfly from flower to flower and land on a cow crap. This is part of...