Nine-year-old Evie calls from Texas to ask about the origin of the phrase raining cats and dogs. This idiom alludes to the cacophonous nature of a heavy downpour. Around the world, expressions about torrential rain also connote the idea of a noisy...
Rosa recalls that when she was growing up in Karnes City, Texas, in the 1960s, she and other Mexican-American children were segregated into a separate classroom and forbidden to speak Spanish at school. Her teachers also replaced her first name...
Ali in Toronto, Canada, wonders about the expression to give or have a leg up, meaning “to be a step ahead of everyone.” The phrase comes from the idea of providing assistance to someone getting up into a saddle. A similar expression is to give a...
Pizey is an old dialectal term from the United Kingdom that means “peevish” or “irritable.” Pizey and pize, as in A pize upon you! may be related to the word poison. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
A Texas caller says her West Virginia-born mother uses the word hornicaboogery to mean “germs” or “the creeping crud.” Among the many such joking names for imaginary illnesses are gollywobbles, collywobbles, carlymarbles...
Gary in San Antonio, Texas, wonders if the term train of thought, meaning a line of reasoning or narrative, predates locomotives. It does indeed, going back to the idea of train meaning anything trailing behind, like a bridal train. This is part of...
