A listener in Quebec, Canada, wonders about the origin of to fly off the handle, meaning “to lose control.” It refers to the image of the head of an axe becoming loose and flying through the air. This is part of a complete episode.
You walk into a used bookstore, or pull down an old volume at the library, and there it is: The smell of old books. If you detect notes of vanilla in that intoxicating scent, there’s a reason. Also, why some people think the word awesome is...
A Quebec listener asks: In the phrases it’s a girl, or it’s raining, what exactly is the it here? It’s called the weather it or the dummy it, and it serves a placeholder inserted to make the sentence function grammatically. This is...
angry-phone n.— «That rarest of breeds in the largely French-speaking province, Mr. Galganov is a bilingual Quebecker who rallies for the rights of English speakers (Anglophones) and against secession from Canada. That makes him an...
Angryphone n.— «Then the producer of the thriller series 24—starring onetime Canadian Kiefer Sutherland—claimed he was considering a fan’s suggestion to use some Quebec terrorists as the next foes for 24’s hero Jack Bauer. Who...
pain point n.— «Quebec small businesses have the second-highest labor “pain points.”…On a national basis, the survey found 70 per cent of small businesses had serious problems with labor laws and regulations...