Some truck driver slang just makes sense. Like “Bambi”, which means a deer is in the vicinity. “Go-go Juice” means diesel fuel. “Seat covers” are actually pants. But what about the phrase “10-4”. You may know that 10-4 basically means “okay” or “I got your message”, but why? Where did that come from? 10-4 came…
Catching a ride on the back of a pig isn’t really a thing, right? And yet, people love horsing around & giving others what are called “piggyback rides”. But why are they called “piggyback rides”? I mean, people walk on two feet, right? Pigs, on the other hand, hoof it on four. What gives? Where…
It’s Springtime again! And that means it’s time for “spring cleaning”, in the hopes of making your home, car, office, etc., look super clean & like new. Your goal should be to make your place look “spick & span”, you might say. But what does that even really mean, “spick & span”? The full phrase…
Getting caught in a spider web…walking through an abandoned warehouse…getting caught in a spider web while walking through an abandoned warehouse…those might make you feel uneasy, scared, or otherwise upset. Some would call that a case of “the willies”. But what are “the willies”? Who, or what, were they named after? And how did they…
Most of our greetings & farewells are pretty straightforward, especially ones that begin with good (like “good morning”, “good afternoon”, “good night”, etc.). But what about “goodbye”? Are you basically saying, “I hope you have a good bye”? What is a “bye”? Is it some old word once used to reference a certain time of…
Ever heard the phrase, “Bah! Humbug!” around Christmastime & wonder what it means? The most famous examples of the phrase come from Charles Dickens’s timeless 1843 tale, A Christmas Carol, in which the curmudgeonly Ebenezer Scrooge regularly proclaims “Bah! Humbug!” when referring to Christmas. Since Scrooge particularly hates the otherwise happy holiday, it’s easy to…
Have you ever been told “you have a chip on your shoulder”? What does that even mean? And what kind of chip are we talking about? From what we now understand about having a chip on your shoulder, you know that it can motivate you to be better, learn from mistakes, or reach goals, even…
Whenever you hear an old saying, like “letting the cat out of the bag”, does it ever make you think “for Pete’s sake, what does it mean”? But then you think, “why did I just say that? What does ‘for Pete’s sake’ even mean?” Who’s this Pete character, and why should I care about his…
No one likes cold feet. Especially a husband whose wife brings her ice-cold tootsies into a warm bed. But, what about figurative “cold feet”, like when someone in a business deal pulls out at the last minute? Or, what about the situation where we hear the phrase most often: wedding nuptials? Why is a groom…