Marjorie in Huntsville, Alabama, wonders about the saying Empty wagons make the most noise suggesting that the people who talk the most about a subject aren’t necessarily the most knowledgeable. This notion goes all the way back to ancient...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s brain-buster involves changing the meaning of proverb by anagramming one of its words. For example, John says his friend owned a string of pottery franchises, but it all came to nothing when one of the ovens fell...
A Turkish proverb that literally translates as “A fava bean doesn’t get wet in their mouth” means that if you tell that person a secret, they will tell everyone else. This is part of a complete episode.
A Turkish proverb translates as “If your mouth is burned by milk, you blow before you eat yogurt,” meaning that if you’ve had a bad experience with one thing, you’ll be cautious when encountering something similar. This is...
Frida in Marquette, Michigan, shares a proverb from her Finnish heritage that translates as “Until the food is ready, feed your guests with words.” She also asks about pank, a term she often hears there in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan...
Rick calls from Rouses Point, New York, to ask about the etymology of the phrase to hang for a sheep as for a lamb, meaning to go for broke or to go all out. The answer involves the old tradition of capital punishment for poaching animals. Given the...