Category: idioms

  • New, used, ineffable

    I’m enough of a curmudgeon that I still grouse now and then about those qualified-yet-unqualified “quality products”– do they mean high quality? Fair-to-middling? Nothing to write home about? And I do enjoy a good sign. So imagine my delight, strolling with my family on Sunday afternoon, toward the end of a day of beach walking…

  • Bored as an oyster?

    Razor clam, boredom long past The translation I’m working on includes the phrase, aburrirse como pingüinos— become bored as penguins? A little sleuthing around turned up the phrase, aburrirse como una ostra or una almeja— bored as an oyster, or bored as a clam. Bivalves likely lead pretty dull lives (though a razor clam can…