Byron in Jacksonville, Florida, shares that when his mother was astonished, she’d say Don’t that beat all! But when really surprised, she’d exclaim, That beats bobtail and bobtail beats the devil! What’s a bobtail and how...
Whitney from Memphis, Tennessee, is curious about the origin of the phrase to beat the band, which describes something happening in forceful or energetic way. Although the origins of this Americanism are murky, it may refer to a time when every...
Claudia in Gardnerville, Nevada, grew up hearing her mother use beat the band for anything happening with great force or flair, as in it’s snowing to beat the band or she was running to beat the band. The expression appears in the late 1800s in uses...