Category Archives: Language & Terms

An article last month in the New York Times discussed American slang and how quickly it has been changing.  With the Internet, people are able to communicate instantaneously (immediately), sharing new expressions and words much faster than in the past.  … Continue reading →

QUESTION: Lilin from China wants to know the meanings of the phrase “feel like.” ANSWER: The phrase “feel like” can be confusing because it has two different meanings, both of which are very commonly used. First, “feel like” is used … Continue reading →

QUESTION: Andrea in Italy wants to know the meaning of the phrase: “What on Earth…?” ANSWER: We often use the phrase “What on Earth…?” and a similar phrase, “What in the world…?,” when we want to express surprise, confusion, or … Continue reading →

We had a question this week from Jacek in Poland about how to pronounce airline flights numbers. The flight number is the number that each plane trip is given, and is usually two, three, or four digits (numbers) in the … Continue reading →

QUESTION: Hazem in Egypt wants to know the meaning of this saying: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” ANSWER: Spare the rod and spoil the child is a saying that means that children will not behave well if they … Continue reading →

QUESTION: Benjamin in France wants to know what the rules are for capitalizing words in titles. ANSWER: This is not an easy question to answer because the major style guides (written rules for using a language) disagree. First, it may … Continue reading →

QUESTION: A listener, Ali, wants to know what it means when someone says, “It has nothing to do with me.” ANSWER: The expression “to have nothing to do with (someone/something)” is used in three main ways. First, we use it … Continue reading →

QUESTION: Nikolay in Russia wants to know what it means when someone does a polite “tap dance”. ANSWER: A tap dance is a type of dance where the dancers wear special shoes with metal parts on the bottom.  Each step … Continue reading →