A restaurant review in the Myanmar Times describes a steak that “could not have been more middle-of-the-road if it was glued to a cat’s eye.” This analogy makes sense only if you know that “cat’s eye” is a term...
If you’re looking forlorn and at a loss, a German speaker might describe you with a phrase that translates as “ordered but not picked up.” It’s as if you’re a forgotten pizza on a restaurant counter. This is part of a...
Is there a word for when your favorite restaurant closes? What about goneappetit? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Goneappetit” There was a fun discussion in our Twitter feed about the need for a word for when your...
When asked about a popular restaurant, Yogi Berra supposedly replied: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Actually, though, that saying has been around since before Berra was born. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
If you’re nibbling on slippery Jims or sipping sweet soup, chances are you’re in the Badger State. It’s the language of Wisconsin — explained at last. Also, the famous abolitionist whose name became an exclamation, and how to...
The longer the description of an item on a menu, the more expensive it’ll likely be. In The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu, Stanford University linguist Dan Jurafsky shows that with each extra letter in a menu description, the...