The expression to turn on a dime means “to change quickly.” Early on the phrase referred to horses or horse-drawn vehicles and later to motorized ones, and suggested the idea of changing direction quickly and easily without needing a large turning...
It’s hard to remember how to spell the names of some cities. Tallahassee, Florida, for example. Then there are towns with very few letters to remember. Y, a tiny town in northern France, has only two main streets, which come together to form...
In Norway, the idiom pling i bollen, or literally, “a pinging sound in a bowl,” describes someone “empty-headed” or “stupid.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pinging Bowl” Music...
In Norway, a popular bit of advice translates as “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.” It’s sometimes given as “Det finst ikkje dårleg vêr, berre dårlege klede” and the idiom is also used in...
A Seattle, Washington, listener wants to know why, when marking time, we say “one Mississippi, two Mississippi,” as opposed to other states or rivers. In the United Kingdom, they’re more likely to say hippopotamus. Some people...
If you play with fire, you’ll pee the bed is one of those parental warnings built less on logic than on knowing your audience. Carrie in South Central Kentucky heard it locally, then learned that a young man from Brazil knew the same idea. Folklore...
