Tag: idioms

• Review: Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red by Andrew Thompson

  Some recent US political events have thrust two interesting idioms in the headlines: waiting for the other shoe to drop and pass the buck. Thinking of a writing post on the expressions, I started doing some research online. Then, much to my pleasure, I remembered I had an entire book dedicated to them: Andrew Thompson’s…

  John Kelly

  July 30, 2017

  Review

• Review: Sports Talk by Colin McNairn

  You don’t really have a choice over whether or not you like sports if you speak English. All bets are off, bad break, curveball, down to the wire, get the ball rolling, grandstanding, level playing field, take the bait, track record—expressions taken from sports are everywhere and everyday in English, so much so that we…

  John Kelly

  July 8, 2017

  Review

• The 2016 “Etymology of the Year”

  The mouth of Donald Trump excited a tremendous – er, huge – amount of etymological activity on Mashed Radish in 2016. But there’s one that easily trumped them all: the word trump itself, the winner of my first annual “Etymology of the Year.” Trump In early modern English, trump meant “to cheat” or “deceive.” This…

  John Kelly

  December 27, 2016

  Etymology of the Year

• Turkey (repost)

  As Thanksgiving approaches, I’m busy giving thanks with some family visiting Ireland from the states. So, I thought I would dish up this post from the archives on the holiday’s main attraction: the origin of “turkey.” It turns out the bird and the country don’t just make for junior high geography jokes or World War I mnemonics.…

  John Kelly

  November 22, 2016

  Uncategorized

• 6 political expressions that come from sports and gaming

  In the run-up to tonight’s high-stakes showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, some polls are showing that the two candidates are locked in a virtual dead heat. And as the two are set to square off, many want the media to raise the bar of expectations for Trump. The language of politics is no…

  John Kelly

  September 26, 2016

  Uncategorized