In English, we say that someone who’s egotistical has a big head. But in French, according to a caller, the person is said to have big ankles. Why ankles? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Big Ankles” Hello, you...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski was rummaging around the A Way with Words Lost and Found Department, and returned with a quiz based on lost items and their owners. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Lost and Found Quiz”...
If you’re doing a hasty, haphazard job, you’re said to do it with “a lick and a promise.” What’s the origin of that expression? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Lick and a Promise” Hello...
You’ve heard people describe something momentous as “a watershed moment in history.” What is a watershed, exactly? Besides an Indigo Girls’ song, that is. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
“He’s sharp as the corner of a round table.” “She’s so sad she’s pulling a face as long as a fiddle.” If startling similes leaving you “grinning like a basket full of possum heads,” you’ll...
Dan from San Diego asks about sass in don’t sass me, a line he heard on Two and a Half Men. Sass is a dialect pronunciation of sauce, which developed a figurative sense of sting, bite, or zest added to speech, much as a sauce adds flavor to food...