Amanda in Tucson, Arizona, dislikes the phrase kill two birds with one stone and wants to popularize a non-violent alternative: feed two birds with one seed. An Alaska listener once suggested the phrase save two birds with one stone, perhaps implying the idea of scaring off birds without harming them. In the 18th century, two similar expressions were to stop two mouths with one morsel and to make two friends with one gift. The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has suggested using feed two birds with one scone, as well as replacing bring home the bacon with bring home the bagel and beat a dead horse and feed a fed horse. This is part of a complete episode.
Humpty-Bump Pull Top, Diamond Loop, Reverse Shark’s Tooth, Hammerhead, and Goldfish from the Top are all names of aerobatic maneuvers recorded in the Aresti System, designed by Spanish aviator Jose Luis de Aresti Aguirre as a means of...
If you reeeeeeeeeally want to emphasize something in writing, you can engage in what linguists call expressive lengthening, or making a word longer by repeating letters. It’s an example of paralinguistic restitution — rendering in text...
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