If you say to someone the Spanish equivalent of “you’re giving me green gray hairs” (me sacas canas verdes), it means that person is making you angry. In Japan, the phrase that literally translates as “one red dot”...
There is always a person greater or lesser than yourself. Grant shares this and other African-American proverbs. This is part of a complete episode.
He can’t “hold a candle” to someone means that he can’t possibly compare to the other person. The hosts explain where this phrase comes from. This is part of a complete episode.
A listener in Buford, Georgia, says his mother’s maiden name was Barnett, and reports that he was told that the addition of an “e” to a last name was once an indication that the person was descended from slave families. This is...
What’s happening linguistically when someone’s using the second-person singular possessive in a list of items? A Charlottesville, Virginia, caller began wondering that recently after hearing a wood-flooring salesperson say, “You got your...
The Spanish phrase “Donde lloran, esta el muerto” literally translates as “Where there’s crying, there’s a dead person.” In everyday use, however, the meaning is somewhat different. You might use it, for example...