When a British tabloid reporter writing about a crocodile attack needed a synonym for crocodile, he went with knobbly monster, now a joking term for similarly creative ways of avoiding repetition. Juliet and Matthew Maguire, described by The...
Scott from Valdosta, Georgia, remembers his father using the phrase in a goat house looking for wool referring to “searching in a place where you won’t find what you’re looking for.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “In A Goat House...
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...
The Spanish phrase tiene mas lana que un borrego means someone is quite wealthy. Literally, the phrase means “he has more wool than a lamb.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “More Wool than a Lamb” In Spanish, if you want to say...
What a difference pronunciation makes! The United States has a Department of Defense, and an individual might take classes in self-defense. So why do football and basketball coaches say they’re proud of their . . . “DEE-fence?” Linguists have a...
Erin in Cambridge, Wisconsin, says her Southern boss uses sheep-dip for bringing someone into a process, as in “We are going to sheep dip you right down on in here.” Actual sheep dipping moves sheep through a chemical bath to kill insects and...