Rachel from San Diego, California, says that her grandfather would occasionally answer questions with the phrase wet ducks don’t fly at night. It’s a variation of a wet bird never flies at night, a phrase that figures in a goofy joke...
To be forswunk means to be totally worn out from overwork. It’s from forswink, meaning to exhaust by labor. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Forswunk” I don’t know how I lived all these years without knowing...
Diamond in the rough usually points to unrealized promise, not simply a bright spot among lesser company. Molly in Allen, Texas, encountered a lively split over that distinction, but the older image comes from the diamond trade: a rough diamond has...
If you’re having difficulty parsing the meaning of the word defugalty, or difugalty, the joke’s on you. It’s just a goofy play on difficulty, one that’s popular with grandparents. This is part of a complete episode...
Are we a proverb culture anymore? In a largely urban society, we’re not likely to immediately recognize the meaning of the saying between hay and grass, meaning “weak” or “feeble.” This is part of a complete episode...
Emphasizing one word over another, especially in written correspondence, makes a huge difference in the meaning of a sentence. And if all caps or italics don’t do the trick in an email, consider using an emoticon. This is part of a complete...