Beware of false friends, those words that don’t translate the way you’d expect. For example, the word “gift” in German means “poison,” and the Spanish word “tuna” means “the fruit of the prickly...
Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah… MmmmmWAH! Martha shares the German verb that means to plant one last kiss in a series of them. This is part of a complete episode.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski puzzle this week is called “Three and a Match.” The challenge is to figure out three words from a common category—say, nationalities—that go with each of the three clues he mentions. If, for example, three clues...
Someone who’s extremely busy may be said to be “busier than a cranberry merchant.” What is it that keeps cranberry merchants so busy, anyway? This is part of a complete episode.
If a restaurant menu states, “We cook off our potatoes,” what in the heck does that mean? A truck driver who encountered such an announcement at a roadside cafe is still puzzling over what it means to “cook off” a tuber. He...
A Burlington, Vermont, caller wants to know: Is horseradish so named because of this root’s strong resemblance to part of a horse’s anatomy? This is part of a complete episode.