Sam in Westville, Indiana, heard a woman from Puerto Rico use the expression You cannot cover the sun with a finger, referring to the problem of having more things to work on than she could handle. The Spanish expression tapar el sol con un dedo, or...
Jonathan in Fall River, Wisconsin, says when he worked in Zambia he met many people named Bornface, supposedly because they were born face-up. In The African Book of Names, Ashkari Johnson Hodari explains that it’s common throughout sub...
In a 1994 interview in the Paris Review, Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe offered some great advice about having faith in your process as a writer based on his own experiences as an undergraduate. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Accent imitation can be part of ordinary human mimicry, the same impulse behind matching someone’s cadence, posture, or gestures. Sarah, who lives in Santa Fe and is temporarily in Philadelphia, finds herself reproducing the accent of a coworker...
pen-robbery n.— «While people in public offices engage in “pen-robbery,” (another name for embezzlement), the artisans, especially the auto-mechanic unleash tears, sorrows and blood on the ill-fated customers who patronize...
cult n.— «The gang is one of several heavily armed, violent groups, known in Nigeria as cults, that have played havoc on the streets of Port Harcourt, the capital of Nigeria’s oil industry, in recent years.» —“Gang Blamed as 10 Are...
