Waiting for the other shoe to drop means “anticipating something that has yet to happen.” An old story may explain the origin of this phrase: A man staying in a boarding house is getting ready for bed. He removes one shoe and lets it fall to the...
The adjective corny describes someone or something “unsophisticated” or “naive.” This sense of corny goes back at least as far as the 1920s. Seed catalogs of the time often contained bits of goofy jokes and broad humor described as corny. In...
Tim in Unadilla, New York, says his grandmother used to say It’s a great life if you don’t weaken. For some reason, in 1914 this catchphrase exploded on both sides of the Atlantic. Other versions: It’s a gay life if you don’t weaken and It’s a good...
Jennifer in Omaha, Nebraska, is curious about the origin of the phrase to be in the soup, meaning “to get into trouble.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “To Be in the Soup” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Jennifer...
Marie-Claire from Montreal, Canada, wonders why we say that someone living in carefree luxury is living the life of Riley. No one’s sure this expression’s origin, although it may be associated with a 19th-century vaudeville song about an innkeeper...
A woman from Abilene, Texas, is preparing to make a move to the US northeast, and was amused when a realtor in her new hometown used the phrase “bada boom, bada bing,” a phrase she’d heard only in movies. It’s possible that this term is older than...