Language is a curious thing. It's constantly changing, almost as if it’s alive. For every new word we create, an old word falls out of fashion and fades into obscurity. There are some words and ...

Fooling people is a universal trick. In English, we say “pulling a fast one” or “pulling the wool over someone’s eyes.” In German, you might say you’re “tying a bear on someone.” It seems like they’d ...

Being a linguist—and someone who has tried to learn several languages (including English) in addition to my mother tongue ...

In the days before mass merchandising, poorly fastened axe heads would fly off while they were in use. The result was dangerous, hence why the phrase is used to describe risky behavior with ...

Idioms are by definition non-literal, but native speakers of a language rarely think about just how nonsensical these sayings can sometimes be. For instance, using the cat’s pajamas —a phrase ...

A post shared on X correctly listed idioms indicating heavy rain in English, Welsh, French, Finnish, Norwegian, Greek and Slovak. Rating: Idioms are a fascinating aspect of language, reflecting ...