Peigner la girafe, literally to comb the giraffe, is French for being stuck with a tedious, useless, or annoying task. Canadian author Mark Abley includes it in Watch Your Tongue: What Our Everyday Sayings and Idioms Figuratively Mean., along with a...
More book recommendations: For a smart, in-depth look at language change and usage controversies, Martha suggests Talk on the Wild Side: Why Language Can’t Be Tamed by Lane Greene. Grant says his 11-year-old son thoroughly enjoyed all of the...
