Matt, a new college grad in Austin, Texas, wants guidance about what kinds of things are appropriate to share during conversations in the workplace. Sociolinguist Janet Holmes has extensively researched and written about this topic, including in...
sBetsy in Virginia Beach, Virginia, says her family refers to the lovable pudge on babies as goonus. It’s a fond term that can also refer to such things as the swinging belly fat on a cat. Does anyone else say goonus or is it a family word...
Questions from young listeners and conversations about everything from shifting slang to a bizarre cooking technique. Kids ask about how to talk about finding information on the internet, how tartar sauce got its name, and if the expression high and...
The Italian phrase Non si frigge mica con l’acqua literally translates as “We don’t fry with water around here,” and means that the speaker doesn’t do things halfway. Quite a few other Italian idioms involve food. One...
Paul in South Bend, Indiana, notes that the French equivalent of the phrase have other fish to fry, meaning to have other things to do, is avoir d’autre chats a fouetter, or literally, to have other cats to whip. In Italian, a similarly creepy...
The term sign of the times, denoting something indicative of the kinds of things happening in a particular period, goes back to the Gospel of Matthew. This is part of a complete episode.