Imagine stepping out of your Manhattan hotel. Expecting motion. Expecting the noise of tires swishing as cars pass by. Horns blaring, sirens in the distance. Chatter of pedestrians. A rush of humanity brushing past you in both directions. Instead, you experience nothing. A six-lane street stretches out before you, empty. No pedestrians. No rush. A single car glides by every 45 seconds or so, as if on assignment. Parking lots built for hundreds hold three lonely vehicles. No

I was in Nashville a while back and took a familiar drive out into the countryside. Since I was last there, HUGE, gargantuan mansions have been built. I found myself hoping that the people’s happiness level was as big as their house. Help here please: Hand Over Fist….? Holy Mother of Pearl….? Kicked the bucket…? “He’s so angry with me that he’d have my guts for garters.” I know what they mean, but how did they come into existence? I could look it up, but I think I would rat

The other day, a man I’ve known since he sat in my high school classroom decades ago wrote to me. There was a tone that seeped through his written question. A tone I recognized because I can sing that tune also. The kind of statements dressed in their mocking, sarcastic, dismissive, judgment wrapped in its thin costume skin that from a distance sounds like a question. He asked, “Do you really believe anything you write, in your newsletters, your posts, makes a difference, cha

I heard someone say "HOLY SH*T". What does that mean? I was wondering how and when does/did s**t become holy? How about Cows, and Toledo as additional “Holy’s”? And “Pray tell?” What’s that all about? And where did the term, “I’ll take a gander (look) at that” come from? “He doesn’t have a lick of sense,” she said. I knew what she was saying but wondered how much a lick is, and if one wanted more, where might they go to get it. Wondered also where that phrase came from