There are many proposed origins for the exclamation of surprise, holy Toledo! But the most likely one involves not the city in Ohio, but instead Toledo, Spain, which has been a major religious center for centuries in the traditions of both Islam and...
Chad in Hilliard, Florida, wonders about the expression old as Methuselah, meaning “extremely advanced in years.” The phrase references Methuselah, a figure in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian tradition said to be 969 years old when he...
Nell from Virginia Beach, Virginia, remembers her great-grandfather and her grandmother using the phrase as clean as seven waters to mean “spotlessly clean.” The word waters in this case is analogous to washes or rinses, so being cleaned...
Bob from Carlsbad, California, asks how Shia and Shiite differ. Shia is a noun for the branch of Islam, and it can also refer to an adherent. Shiite can be a noun for an adherent or an adjective, as in a Shiite community or Shiite belief, but it is...
Otto Pfister n.— Note: Otto Pfister is a German-born football (US: soccer) coach who has led teams from across Africa and the Middle East. He is currently coach of a Sudanese team. «“I am strongly admonishing parents and guardians to pay...
Dearbornistan n.—Gloss: a nickname, often derogatory, for Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large population of Muslims. Note: The “-stan” and “-istan” suffixes are often informally affixed to place names in the...
