From the Golden State of California to the "Sunshine State" of Florida | Words and Their Stories

You'll hear about horse expressions straight from the horses mouth, so stop horsing around! | Words and Their Stories

Americans love their dogs. And dog lends its name to many expressions like 'every dog has his day,' 'dog-eat-dog,' 'teach an old dog ne...

Expressions using numbers | Words and Their Stories

Let us start with the number one. Numbers can be tricky. On the one hand, they are simply numbers. On the other hand, they have meanings. "...

Expressions from America's national pastime | WORDS AND THEIR STORIES

Expressions that may catch your eye | Words and Their Stories

The answer Is as clear as the nose on your face | Words and Their Stories

Many expressions that Americans use every day came from the card game of poker. From "ace in the hole," "stack the deck," to "poker fac...

We tell the interesting story of how pilots came to use the word “mayday,” and the story of some other French words that Americans use | W...

Terms for people who are powerful, at least in their own minds, are abundant in the English language. From "bigwig to "big wheel", we exp...

Thomas Jefferson was the first to use this word to describe Count de Buffon's books on natural history. Efforts to belittle the word "beli...

Few words can “hold a candle” to “hold” as expressions take on new meanings using the word. “Hold on,” and we will tell you all about ...

From the first signs of life until the time they “kick the bucket,” people “kick around” many phrases to use in everyday life | Words an...

A chip is a small piece of something, like a chip of wood. How this chip gets on a person’s shoulder and where it might fall are our topics...

'Leatherneck,' 'grunt,' 'doughboy' and 'GI Joe' are words that Americans call their beloved soldiers. Where these words come from is...

Couch potato is used to describe people who likes to spend time sitting or lying down to watch television. Cabin fever is not really a disea...

A former Roman Catholic bishop of New York City, Fulton Sheen, once explained, “Baloney is praise so thick it cannot be true. And blarney i...

Inventor Samuel Morse sent the first message over a wire by electricity. Soon after, telegraph lines were strung going in all directions, as...

The Golden Rule says people should treat others the way they themselves would like to be treated. We also explain "golden oldies," "gold ...