Idiom Series

In 1840, during an American presidential election, supporters of the candidate William Henry Harrison did something strange. According to The Phrase Finder, they built huge balls, about ten feet (thre

Imagine an English learner writes this in a work email: “The manager rejected my idea. He got out of hand.” The writer means the manager said no very quickly. But to a native speaker, it sounds like t

Search for the origin of this idiom and you’ll find the same answer again and again: “It comes from Aesop’s fables.” Some websites even tell a story about a fake doctor who is forced to drink his own

I’ll start with a confession: nobody knows what “the music” in this idiom was. Not me, not the dictionary editors, not the word historians who have spent years searching old newspapers. And yet Englis

Can a cloud have a lining? A coat has a lining. A jacket has a lining. But a cloud?

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