To describe something tiny or insignificant compared with something vast, you might reach for phrases like a drop in the ocean or a drop in the bucket. In Mandarin, there’s an equally picturesque phrase that translates as nine cows, one hair, 九 牛 一...
If someone’s unfamiliar to us, why do we say I don’t know him from Adam’s off ox? This phrase is occasionally mistaken as Adam’s all fox. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Know Someone From Adam’s...
Boustrophedon is writing that changes direction with each line, right to left, then left to right, and back again, like an ox turning at the end of a furrow. The word comes from Greek bous, “ox,” and strophe, “turn.” The same ox root appears in...
A woman in Fairbanks, Alaska, says she’s been described as strong like ox, smart like streetcar. Is that a compliment? Other variations include strong like bull and smart like tractor or smart like dump truck. The phrase strong like bull was...
The word traces denotes the long, thin leather straps that secure a horse to a wagon. The expression to kick over the traces, meaning “to become unruly,” refers to the action of a horse literally kicking over those straps and getting all...
Sunny-side up eggs sometime go by the name looking at you eggs, an apparent reference to how the yolk in the middle of the egg white makes them resemble eyes. A similar idea appears in the German name, which translates as “mirror egg,”...
