How do dictionaries define colors? And why are some of those definitions so confusing, like “stronger than carmine” and “bluer than fiesta”? Dictionary editor Kory Stamper explains it all in her new book. Plus, the story behind the expression more bang for your buck goes back to World War II. And did you know there’s a term for those pieces of green plastic fringe in supermar...

Those green plastic strips tucked between cuts of meat in supermarket display cases? They’re parsley runners, the result of recommendations from a professional color consultant hired by a grocery chain in the 1950s. Under bright store lights, the meat looked pale and unappetizing, so the consultant proposed a simple solution: Green and red are complementary colors, so placing...

Daniel from Gardnerville, Nevada, remembers his aunt had a habit of responding to anyone who left the word so hanging there in mid-conversation with, Sew a button on your underwear. It’s is one of a whole family of playful rejoinders, including Sew a button on an ice cube, Sew buttons on ice cream, Sew buttons on tuna, Sew buttons on eggs, Sew buttons on Easter eggs, Sew butt...

Mark from Greenville, South Carolina, has heard that the phrase more bang for your buck originated with the U.S. nuclear weapons program and wonders if it’s true. The expression is more broadly associated with post-World War II U.S. military culture. It appears in some 1953 new articles by syndicated Washington columnist Stuart Alsop about a military restructuring known as th...

In Russian, an expression for something tantalizingly close but forever out of reach translates as “Your elbow is close, but you can’t bite it.” Much like the English phrase when pigs fly, it’s another colorful way of describing the impossible. This is part of a complete episode.