Daniel - The Curious Guide

The team meeting is almost over. Everyone has talked about the new logo, the office plants and next month’s schedule. Nobody has said a word about the fact that half the team’s budget was cut last wee

Open almost any office inbox and you may find a message like this one:

A faucet that drips all night. A coworker who clicks a pen during every meeting. A phone alarm in the next apartment that rings and rings while its owner sleeps.

What do a close election, a championship final and a tense business deal have in common? Nobody knows how they’ll end until the very last moment. In English, we say they go down to the wire.

Is it always smart to spread your risks? One of the richest men in history said no. In 1885, the industrialist Andrew Carnegie stood in front of a room of business students in Pittsburgh and turned a

In 1659, a writer named James Howell published a collection of English proverbs. Among them was a short line: “No weeping for shed milk.”

It’s an easy sentence to say, and a very common one for learners, often right before handing in late homework. The idea is right. The situation is right. Only one tiny word is wrong. We’ll fix it belo

Sam hired a painter to redo his kitchen. The job was finished in one day, and the price was low. Three weeks later, the paint started to peel off the walls. The painter had skipped the primer and used

You may have heard this story. Long ago, portrait painters charged by the body part. A face cost a little. Add the arms and the price went up. Paint the legs too, and the picture would “cost an arm an

Today, cold feet makes most English speakers think of weddings: a nervous bride or groom wondering whether to walk down the aisle. But some of the earliest examples researchers have found aren’t about