Origin of the phrase "Now we're cooking with
The original is "Now You're Cooking With Gas", supposedly part of an ad campaign from the era when gas stoves first started replacing wood stoves for cooking in the home. The Wikitionary …
Origin of the phrase, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."
Jun 30, 2011 · There are many versions of this proverb, which suggests there are always several ways to do something. The earliest printed citation of this proverbial saying that I can find is in …
word choice - What types of sounds do cars make? - English …
Jul 1, 2012 · Modern cars aren't supposed to make much noise at all. There's the comfort of travellers and the general public near the highway to consider, not to mention the fact that fuel …
pronunciation - What's the rule for pronouncing “’s” as /z/ or /s ...
Feb 18, 2016 · The word ending spelled apostrophe "s" is a phonemic /z/ in all the instances I can think of. (But English spelling is not very regular, so there could be exceptions.) However, …
What is the origin of "sucker" and "it sucks"?
etymonline has for suck: O.E. sucan, from PIE root sug-/suk- of imitative origin. Meaning “do fellatio” is first recorded 1928. Slang sense of “be contemptible” first attested 1971 (the …
Sice, cinque, cater, trey, deuce, ace, and then?
The set of numbers for a six-sided die are: ace, deuce, trey, cater, cinque, sice. They originate from Old French (cf. un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six in modern French). Ace comes from Latin ...
When did the insult “up yours” come into existence?
Sep 14, 2023 · The movie Blazing Saddles used everything and anything to get a laugh. When the African American sheriff, newly assigned to a rural town, patrolled the main thoroughfare …
Is there a term for "mains power" in U.S. English?
Apr 12, 2011 · After the hurricane, the hospital powered life support equipment from diesel generators for 36 hours, then switched back to the mains. "Grid" would also be acceptable. If …
meaning - What does the term "86'd" relate to? - English …
Jan 15, 2013 · What does it mean when someone or something is referred to as being "86'd"?
capitalization - Which words in a title should be capitalized ...
Aug 25, 2013 · Are there any concrete rules that say which words (parts of speech) in a title should start with a capital letter? What would be a correct capitalization for the title of this …