Alligator arms is a joking way to describe a tightwad whose arms suddenly seem too short to reach the restaurant check or a wallet. Bob from Minnesota uses it alongside a little menagerie of similar images: in Argentina, a miserly person may be said...
In Argentina, you might describe a stingy person as someone who has un cocodrilo en el bolsillo or “a crocodile in the pocket.” In France, such a person is said to have oursins, or “sea urchins” in that pocket. In various...
Juice in Genoa, New York, remembers her mother used to say I am so mad I could spit nickels. It’s one of several variations on the idea of being angry enough to spit, period, or to spit something specific, such as spit tacks, spit nails, spit...
Plenty of lizards are scary looking, but that doesn’t make them scorpions. Even so, there are places like Western Virginia where the word scorpion is used to refer to a lizard, such as the five-lined skink, known for its distinctive blue tail...
sting jet n. a weather formation characterized by high, damaging winds, caused by rapidly descending cool, dry air in contact with warm, moist air. Editorial Note: A picture of a sting jet can be seen here. Etymological Note: As indicated in the...
