Bill calls from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to say his late wife, who was from South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, would jokingly tell him You talk like a sausage! What exactly did she mean? Although Germans have many expressions that include the word Wurst, or “sausage,” you’re more likely to be criticized for talking nonsense with the German expression that means “to talk cheese,” or Käse reden. There’s also a Dutch expression that roughly translates as “he talks like a sausage without the fat” or “He talks like a sausage that has escaped the fat.” This is part of a complete episode.
My grandma from northern Illinois used to say this! Her parents came over from Germany in the 1890s, IIRC, and Grandma was born in the US in 1905. “You talk like a sausage” was an expression she used (in English) to imply that you weren’t making sense.
If you’re going to hit the road in a motor home, best to bone up on some of the slang used by RV enthusiasts, like stinky slinky, PUPs, and gassers. A stinky slinky is a sewer hose, a PUP is a pop-up camper, and a gasser is a motor home powered by...
A listener in Lorain, Ohio, wonders about the origin of the terms happy and happiness. Both come from an older word hap, meaning “chance” or “luck,” also the source of happen, mishap, hapless, happenstance, happy-go-lucky, and perhaps. Language...
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My grandma from northern Illinois used to say this! Her parents came over from Germany in the 1890s, IIRC, and Grandma was born in the US in 1905. “You talk like a sausage” was an expression she used (in English) to imply that you weren’t making sense.