Hen Kerlien (or, hěn​ kě​ lián​). For when an anglophone needs a phrase that suggests a child walking alone in the world.
posted by Greg Nog on Oct 14, 2009 - 25 comments

I don’t understand the term “begs the question.” I know I use it incorrectly—or so I’ve been told—but I don’t know what I’m supposedly doing wrong. Can you explain? The Morning News' The Non-Expert tackles "the phrase that nobody understands."
posted by amyms on Feb 8, 2008 - 188 comments

Dave Barry posts a letter in his weblog encouraging users to submit poems to poetry.com containing the phrase "the dog ate mother's toes" under the penname of Freemont. Hilarity Ensues.
posted by woil on Jul 16, 2003 - 40 comments

Not sure if someone wants to beat you, or is asking for a date? Literal vreakdowns of American slang, including explanations of expressions found in movies and pop music. Don't miss the the literally Boschian body-parts slang or the insults, including the classic "I hate you, and if a horse had brought you here, I'd hate it just as much, if not more."
posted by blissbat on Dec 8, 2002 - 25 comments

Imagine my glee in finding Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable online and searchable. Then, imagine my glee in finding out that Tom and Jerry have a non-animated past. AND they're a drink. AND they're a play!
They (the originals, that is) used to be wildly popular. Now they're all but forgotten, except in cat / mouse form. What wildly popular "works" will our great grandchildren forget completely? (I had to wash my cache out with soap after that last one)
posted by condour75 on Oct 17, 2002 - 11 comments