To mash the brake or mash the elevator button comes from a Southern instance of mash meaning “to press something hard.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Mash the Brake” Hello, you have A Way with Words...
Shopping malls take their name from the fashionable street now known as Pall Mall in London’s St. James area. The game of pall-mall, which involves hitting a ball with a wooden mallet, was once played there. This is part of a complete episode...
The idiom “rob Peter to pay Paul,” means “to borrow someone from someone in order to repay someone else.” In Nicaragua, the same idea is expressed by a phrase that translates as “take Juan’s clothes to give them...
Restekuchen, or baked goods made with leftover ingredients, are popular in Germany, where their name translates as “scrap cake.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “German Scrap Cake” Hello, you have A Way with...
In Wisconsin, the game Mother, May I? goes by the name Captain, May I? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Captain, May I?” Grant, here’s another linguistic oddity that’s primarily in Wisconsin. You and I...
When it’s raining and sunny at the same time, Almira from St. Paul, who grew up in Natal, Brazil, says she heard that it was a marriage between a fox and a nightingale. South Africans say it’s a monkey’s wedding. Those images are far happier than an...