Jules in Washington, D.C., is puzzled when a speaker at a meeting says the gathering will be covered by Chatham House Rules. Correctly said there’s just one Chatham House Rule, and it’s named after Chatham House, a think tank and...
Eileen from Chesapeake, Virginia, recalls her mother’s response whenever someone in their family burped: Excuse the pigs, the hogs went out for a walk. It’s a mild reprimand (or apology, if the speaker is the one who burped), and there...
A native Dutch speaker who spent many years in Japan says he had to learn the hard way that when Americans greeted him with How are you?, they didn’t really want to know how he was. Such casual greetings that don’t require a factual or...
A native German speaker is curious about the English word doofus, which sounds a lot like German doof, meaning “stupid” or “daft.” English doofus first appeared in the 1960s, apparently modeled after goofus, another...
MaryAnne from Dallas, Texas, says that sometimes when she or her siblings asked her father how much he spent on something he’d answer A buck three-eighty. It’s one of many similar expressions that allow the speaker to give an approximate...
Rick in San Diego, California, wants to know why his older relatives always inscribed birthday cards with the phrase many happy returns of the day. This phrase, and the shorter version, many happy returns, indicates that the speaker is sending...