Do you refer to your dog or cat as “somebody”? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don’t mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for centuries, there was little consistency in the...
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...
Robert in Oak Park, Illinois, seeks a Portuguese phrase he once heard that a man might say when the object of his affection is out of their league or otherwise forever unattainable. This wistful phrase is Ela é muita areia pro meu caminhãozinho or...
Why do we call a frankfurter a hot dog? In the 19th century, hot dog was a jocular reference to rumors that these sausages were stuffed with dog meat. This is part of a complete episode.
On the face of it, the expression “the proof is in the pudding” doesn’t make sense. It’s a shortening of the proverbial saying, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Pudding is an old word for sausage, and...
The word chow, as in chow hall or chow down, goes back to the British presence in Chinese ports during the 1700s. Chow chow was a pidgin term referring to a mixed dish of various foods, namely whatever was on hand. The joke was that it often...