A Latvian expression that translates as “Did a bear stomp on your ear?” is a more colorful, though no more kind, way to tell someone they have no ear for music. Also heard in Latvia is an idiom that translates as “You’re blowing little ducks,”...
Kurt Vonnegut gave us this timeless quote in his novel Cat’s Cradle: “People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order, so they’ll have good voice boxes in case there’s ever anything really meaningful to say.” This...
Micah from Texas asks how to explain the difference between speak and talk to someone whose language uses one verb for both. Speak is often the more formal or one-way choice, as in Speaker of the House rather than Talker of the House, and it can...
Ralphing, slang for vomiting, is onomatopoeic, modeled on the harsh sound itself, and dates at least to the 1960s. Kelsey in Tallahassee, Florida, went looking for a clever way to describe her dog throwing up on her paperwork and wondered whether...
Adam in Indianapolis grew up with his grandmother’s warning not to split a pole, meaning that two companions shouldn’t pass on opposite sides of a lamppost, mailbox, or other street obstacle. The idea is that the physical separation hints at an...
The Bangladeshi idiom translated as oiling your mustache in anticipation of the jackfruit tree bearing fruit roughly matches English don’t count your chickens before they hatch. The image depends on cultural context: jackfruit is juicy, a mustache...