Twists & Turns of Phrase When something is as rare (or scarce) as hen’s teeth, it is very rare to find it, perhaps even impossible.…
Twists & Turns of Phrase When something’s got all the bells and whistles, it has been constructed with lots of extra features—usually ones that aren’t…
Twists & Turns of Phrase The last straw or final straw is a problem or annoyance that on its own would be a trifling matter,…
Twists & Turns of Phrase Something that’s beyond the black stump is beyond or outside the realm of civilized life. This Australian idiom or saying…
Twists & Turns of Phrase Calling something a wild goose chase is another way of saying it’s a foolish pursuit or endeavour. Is that because…
Twists & Turns of Phrase When something is held by the dead hand of something else, it is being prevented from attaining its goals. For…
Twists & Turns of Phrase If you’re riding shotgun these days, you’re probably in the front passenger seat of your buddy’s car. Origins: But most of…
A person who opens a can of worms tries to solve a problem, but in doing so creates a lot of new unanticipated complications.
For some reason I always see the image of the snake-in-a-can gag whenever I hear this turn of phrase, but this is clearly just my unusual brain at work. So I wonder just where this saying does come from…
When something sells like hotcakes it sells quickly and in large quantities.
I like a hotcake as much as the next person, but do they really sell that well? Yes, they do, or at least they did at county fairs in the 1800s…