When Ana from the San Diego area tried to render her mother’s Spanish saying about an old tree that no longer grows straight, You can’t teach an old dog new tricks wasn’t well received. The dog image, translated into Spanish, sounded much more...
“We’re off like a dirty shirt” indicates the speaker is “leaving right away” or “commencing immediately.” Similar phrases include “off like a prom dress” and “off like a bride’s...
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...
Sneaky contract lingo, advice for writing well, and preserving a dying language. Say you’re scrolling through an online transaction where you’re asked to read the “Terms and Conditions.” Do you actually read them or just check the...
Imagine that you’re the last living speaker of a dying language. What memories do the words of your childhood evoke? What do you miss talking about? Those are questions raised by Precious Little, a play by Madeleine George. Martha reads...
Faye in Marshfield, Vermont, grew up hearing sneezing to the truth after someone sneezed, a family expression with Yiddish roots. It comes from גענאָסן צום אמת (often spelled in Latin characters as a phrase rendered as genosn tsum emes and...