Teddy, is that you?
Hidey ho, Joy! Hello diddly doo, Zaya!
What brings you two to the official ForeverAGO library?
Zaya's helping me with my future best selling book, Quick Snacks, and Fun Facts with Joy Dolo.
And we could use your help with some of our research, Teddy.
Sure thing! As the official ForeverAGO librarian, I can talk research until the caterpillars come home.
Caterpillars? I think the phrase is actually, till the cows come home.
I don't have any cows, Zaya?
Oh. Anyway, my book features the best fact and snack pairings in the world, and I'm looking for the best snack to pair with this fun fact.
Did you know a group of jellyfish is called a smack?
A snack to pair with a smack fact, hmm that's a tricky one, Joy.
But I bet we have the perfect book for your research. Let me just check the shelves.
Do you have any snack books in that pile?
An encyclopedia of snacks, maybe?
Hold your kittens, Joy!
It's Hold Your Horses, Teddy.
I don't know if I'm strong enough, but that's very kind of you to suggest. Hold Your Horses is an expression, Teddy?
Yeah OK, sure. Joy, do you have a system for selecting the best snack -fact pairing?
When you're writing a book, you don't want to dance by the seat of your pants.
Fly by the seat of your pants!
Hee hee hee! Oh, that's cute.
You think I can fly, too!
That's not what I - I'm just a librarian, Zaya!
Ugh... never mind. I don't want to be a downer, Joy!
I just want your book to be the cream of the icing!
You mean the cream of the crop?
Crops don't evolve cream Joy.
Icing often does. Teddy!
Joy! Hey, you two, put a sock in it, would you?
Sock in it? Excuse me, this is a library, not a laundromat.
Welcome to Forever A Go from APM Studios.
I'm Joy Dolo. And I'm Zia.
And today, we're talking all about idioms. Idioms are expressions that don't make sense until you know what they're supposed to mean.
Like when my friends say, break a leg, Joy, before I go on stage?
They don't actually want me to break a leg.
They want me to perform beautifully.
To steal the show. Steal the show is an idiom too.
You can't actually steal a show.
A show is not a handbag, or a diamond necklace, or a slice of banana cream pie, which is a great snack.
It's going in the book.
I'm amped to read your Snackback book, Joy.
Too bad Teddy the librarian couldn't help with your research. I know.
And he does not know his way around idioms. Did you notice that?
Yeah. Those idioms that came up in conversation with him, like, hold your horses and fly by the seat of your pants, you knew those ones.
Yeah, hold your horses means wait for a second.
And to fly by the seat of your pants means to do something without any preparation, like to improvise your way through something.
Which is my favorite way to do things, but I digress.
What other idioms did Teddy get wrong, Zia?
Um, till the cows come home, I believe, is one that he got wrong.
I can't remember exactly.
I think it was till the caterpillars come home?
I don't know where he got that from.
Sing a bunch of caterpillars and walk to your house.
That would be weird. It was really funny when he just said, I don't have any cows that, that hit me hard. And the Hold Your Kittens...
where, where does he get this from?
We got farm animals switched up for insects and house pets.
Do you know what the phrase, uh, till the cows come home means?
Kind of like, you could do it till, like, the end of the day pretty much. Yeah, yeah, till like, forever.
Like, you put the cows out in the morning and you take them back in the evening.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That's, that's what sounds right, makes sense.
Have you ever heard the idiom, like, you're one smart cookie?
Yes, I have! What do you think it means?
Like, you're one smart cookie, like you're a smart person.
Exactly, yeah, a smart person who makes good decisions, you know, just well -rounded.
Do you have any idioms off the top of your mind besides one smart cookie, cream of the crop?
Cats out of the bag.
Cats out of the bag.
That's a great one!
What does that mean?
The cats out of the bag means the secret is out.
So in this case scenario, think that...
The secret is, it's like being secure, kept in, no one really knows, and then the cat is the secret, so when the cat comes out of the bag, the secret comes out.
Same thing with spill the beans, in a sense.
Spill the beans, yes, that's another one.
Right, you spilled the beans.
The answer is out all over the place.
Or it's raining cats and dogs.
I say that all the time.
Really? Yeah. Yeah.
Like when it's just pouring because you know Minnesota weather is all over the place.
Really? Yeah, so you look outside and it's sunny.
Same thing with PR.
It's the same in Puerto Rico?
For real, same thing with avocados.
It rains avocados? In a sense, so my house, the neighbor has an avocado tree and we have a tin roof, so when the avocados fall, it sounds like someone just, I don't even know.
It's super loud. And when the rain and the wind is really heavy, it just practically rains avocados.
I'm going to start saying that.
Oh my gosh, look outside.
It's raining avocados.
I would love to hear that.
That sounds like a really delicious problem to have. Put it in your snackbook.
Put it in your snackbook.
Oh, yeah, we'll put it right on page one.
Idioms can be strange when you think about them, and sometimes pretty silly, and there are a lot of them.
Yeah, there are thousands and thousands of idioms in the English language, and a lot of them can be traced back to ancient Rome, ancient Greece, the Bible, or the Renaissance.
They've stood the test of time.
And we're talking about them today because language is full of history.
Every word and phrase we use has a story of where it came from.
But unlike dinosaur bones, language doesn't fossilize.
Fossils are the ancient remains of creatures from long ago.
They're cool because they're records of a very specific moment in time.
A volcano explodes.
A creature is buried in ash.
We find the remains millions of years later, frozen in time, like a snapshot of that era.
But language is an idea, and it's constantly changing in the minds of the people who use it.
And idioms are especially tricky because they don't always make sense.
It's hard to figure out where they came from.
That said, a few idioms can be traced back to a specific moment in history.
When we find a bunch of newspapers, letters, or books that all tell the same story about where an idiom comes from, we can be pretty sure it's correct.
One idiom that has a pretty certain origin story is… To steal someone's thunder.
Ooh. Shall we use it in a conversation, Zion?
Sure. OK, pretend I just showed up at karaoke night with our best friends.
Ooh, I cannot wait to sing How Far I'll Go from Moana.
I've been practicing it in the shower for weeks.
See the line where the sky meets the sea?
It calls me. Oh, is someone already singing it?
How far it goes! That's my go -to song, Zaya!
You're stealing my thunder!
Sorry, Joy! That's my favorite song too!
Oh no, you didn't. If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me.
One day I'll know, if I go there's just no telling how far I'll go I know.
Scene! Alright, Zaya.
How would you define to steal someone's thunder?
It means to do something that someone else thinks is their thing.
Nailed it! Nailed it is also an idiom.
Zaya didn't literally bust out a hammer and nail at karaoke night.
Nailed it just means that she did a great job.
As usual. Oh, stop.
You might be wondering, where did the idiom to steal someone's thunder come from?
It all started with one of my favourite things in the world.
A play! The year was 1709.
The country? England.
There was no electricity back then, so stages were lit with candles.
Actors had to make big, dramatic gestures so the audience could see them in the dim candlelight.
And there were no microphones, so actors had to project their voices.
At that time, a playwright named John Dennis was putting on a play at a popular theatre in London.
This play is a minor bit of genius.
If I do say so myself.
The words, they just, uh, poured forth out of me like water from a spigot.
And there was a big storm in his play!
I always say the natural world is ripe with drama!
Give me thunder, give me rain!
To make the storm feel real to the audience, John created a device that made the sound of thunder.
This was a big deal because, back then, it was hard to make sound effects.
and there were no electric amplifiers, so it had to be loud.
Behold my Thunder Maker!
It's quite the invention, if I do say so myself.
It involves this sheet of metal and these wooden balls.
When I bonk the balls against the metal, it sounds like this.
When the opening night of the play arrived, the theater was packed.
The curtains went up, Jon held his breath, and then… His thunder machine worked like a dream, but the rest of the play was a real flop.
It was so unpopular that the play was shut down just a few days later.
Oh, they simply didn't understand my perspective.
My brilliance. A short while later that same theater put on a production of Shakespeare's Macbeth and John went to see it.
Excuse me, pardon me, what must man do to find a seat?
The play began. When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
And then, what sound should go resounding through the theater but?
John Dennis's ears perked up.
His face lit up with rage.
That was his sound effect.
The one he invented.
He leaped to his feet and hollered something like, they won't act by tragedy, but they will steal my thunder?
Ooh. And to this day, when someone takes credit for something someone else did first or prevents them from getting the attention and praise they deserve, they're?
Stealing someone's thunder!
Has anyone ever stole your thunder, Zaya?
Definitely. In like my science or math class, I will have an answer.
And I really want to say, because I'm confident, and then one of my other buddies will raise their hand first. And they get picked.
and then they say it.
So that's kind of stealing my thunder, but I don't get mad because they're my friends.
Now, you might be thinking, Joy, if there are so many idioms in the English language, are there idioms in other languages too?
I was actually wondering that.
Not surprised. My barista tells me I'm quite the mind reader.
And I'm sensing that you are hungry for ants on a log with cranberries and almond butter?
Yum. Oh, that's definitely going in my snack book.
As you were saying?
Yes! There are idioms in all languages.
In Japanese, when you say someone is eating grass by the side of the road, that means they're wasting time.
And in Farsi, when you hear, a dog doesn't recognize its owner, that means things are chaotic.
Idioms can be a hard part of learning a new language, because they don't make sense unless you know what they mean.
Like if I didn't speak English and someone said to me, the proof is in the pudding, I'd have no idea what they were talking about.
Me too, I'd be like, what proof?
Who put in my pudding?
And where is the pudding?
I hope it's chocolate.
Exactly, the proof is in the pudding means you can measure success by the final result.
So if my book, Quick Snacks and Fun Facts with Joy Dolo becomes an international bestseller and I get famous for being a genius, then the proof is in the pudding.
The book's success is proof that I'm a genius.
Alright, Joy. I just get so fired up talking about idioms. And especially idioms from around the world.
So today, instead of playing a game of First Things First, let's play...
Guess That Idiom! It's a game exploring idioms in other languages.
Here's how it'll go.
We'll hear an idiom in a foreign language and its translation and guess what it means.
Then our foreign language expert will do a big reveal and define it at the end of the show.
Sound good? Yeah. All right.
Let's give the Guess That Idiom spinner a twirl and see which language we land on today.
Want to do the honors, Zaya?
Sure. Here goes. Mm -hmm.
And our language is Spanish.
Oh, you speak Spanish, don't you, Zaya?
Yes. Well, kind of.
I lived in Puerto Rico, so I was around a lot of Spanish -speaking people, and I kind of picked it up, but I'm still in the SSL classes, which stands for Spanish as a Second Language.
But because you, you know, a little bit of Spanish, I think you might even know this idiom.
Do you want to host the game?
Sure. All right, Joy, are you ready to hear our Spanish idiom?
Yeah! Si, I mean! Okay, this phrase comes to us from Dr. Amelia Tsang.
She's a professor of Spanish and linguistics at American University in Washington, D .C.
The idiom I would like to share with you today is called mimedia naranja.
It means my orange half.
Joy, what do you think the idiom mimedia naranja, or my orange half, means in Spanish?
How do you think it could be used in conversation?
Oh, those are good questions.
Ok, my orange half.
What's the other half, then?
Is it, like, orange the color or orange the fruit?
Considering that it's half of an orange, I, logically, it would be of the fruit because you can't split a color in half.
Zaya, you speak the truth and your knowledge astounds me.
Um, okay. Okay. Well, let's think about this then.
Okay, so if it's a fruit orange and we split it in half, maybe it's, like, a love thing, like a partner, like, your orange half.
That's a really good idea.
Yeah, so it's, like, my husband, Graham, He's Mi Madea Naranja.
He's my orange half.
That's a really good guess, Joy.
Listeners, we want you to guess what Mi Madea Naranja, or my orange half, means too.
If you speak Spanish and know the answer, don't spoil it for others.
We'll hear the answer at the end of the show.
And we'll be back after this short break.
Hey, forever ago friends, we love hearing your ideas and questions.
So we want to know What topic would you like to explore on Forever A Go?
What history would you like to learn more about?
Maybe there's a certain invention, person or time period you're curious about?
Whatever it is, we wanna hear it.
Listeners, send us your episode ideas at foreverago .org slash contact.
And while you're there, you can send us your questions, compliments, and fan art.
We love getting fan art.
We're huge fans of fan art.
Give us some fan art.
Again, send it to us at foreverago .org slash contact.
Brains on Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults.
Since you're a fan of Forever A Go, we know you'll love the other shows in our universe.
Come on, let's explore.
Entering Brains on Universe, to find my favorite podcasts.
brains on, smash boom best, forever ago, picking up signal smash boom best, the smart funny debate show squish squish squish!
skitter skitter tail tails tail turn, skitter skitter tail tail turn is that a rat noise I hear?
that is a rat noise you know classic rat noise tail tail tail filter, filter, turn, turn, turn, skip, zorp, where did the signal go must find smash boom best now listen to smash boom best wherever you get your podcasts You're listening to Forever Ago.
I'm Joy. And I'm Zaya.
And today we're talking idioms. Idioms are common sayings that are usually impossible to understand unless someone tells you what they mean.
And a lot of them have interesting, sometimes murky origin stories.
The story behind to steal someone's thunder is simple and clear, and historians think it actually happened, but that's rare for idioms. Often their origins or where they came from are hard to pin down.
One idiom that has a very unclear origin story is the old classic it's raining cats and dogs.
Oh my gosh, it's pouring rain.
I mean, it's raining cats and dogs.
I can't believe it started raining so hard on Q.
I made it happen. My barista helped me realize I'm a weather whisperer too.
Speaking of weather.
I just thought of another fact for quick snacks and fun facts with Joy Dolo Did you know that the world's oldest cat lived to be 38 years old?
Whoa, really? Yeah But I digress back to its reigning cats and dogs We don't know where it came from, but there are a lot of theories A theory is sort of like an educated guess.
One theory is that cats and dogs had been associated with bad weather for a long time.
Odin, the Norse god of war and storms, was associated with dogs and wolves.
And for centuries, sailors were superstitious about cats and associated them with the weather.
They believe things like if a cat sneezed, it would rain, or if it licked itself a certain way, a hailstorm was on its way.
But all of these examples are just associations.
They just tell us that in some people's minds, weather and cats and dogs are related.
There's no concrete evidence that these ideas gave rise to the idiom, it's raining cats and dogs.
There's also a theory involving thatched roofs in England.
Yes, so around 500 years ago in Shakespeare's time, people's houses had roofs made from hay, straw, and other things like that.
That's a thatched roof.
And the story goes, cats and dogs like to nestle in these roofs and take naps.
But when it started pouring rain, the hay would get all slippery and damp.
And cats and dogs would come scrambling out of their napping spots and jump to the ground.
Which made it look like it was raining.
CATS AND DOGS! Cute story.
Almost certainly not true.
Well made thatch roos wouldn't have gotten wet inside.
There just isn't enough evidence to prove that's where the idiom, it's raining cats and dogs, comes from.
And honestly there are so many better places to nap than in the roof.
Uh yeah. So the origin story of raining cats and dogs is still a mystery which brings us full circle to the reality that...
language doesn't fossilize!
When we look into the history of an expression, we'll find all sorts of traces of the past. But it's hard to find out where things started, because language is always shifting and changing.
So if someone says they know the truth about where an idiom came from, be skeptical.
And you can apply this idea more broadly.
Like if someone claims to have the best snack and fact pairings in the world, don't necessarily believe them.
Joy, isn't that you.
Oh yeah. Well, okay nevermind.
How about we end on a high note.
End on a high note?
Nice idiom, Joy. No literally, let's do it.
Let's hear those karaoke skills.
Laaaaaaaaaaaa! This episode was written by Rosie Dupont.
It was produced by Nico Gonzalez -Whistler and Ruby Guthrie.
Our editors are Sandin Totten and Shayla Farzan.
Fact checking by Nico Gonzalez -Whistler.
Engineering help from Lawrence Vexler and Derek Ramirez with sound design by Rachel Breeze.
Original theme music by Mark Sanchez.
We had additional production help from the Rest of the Brains on Universe team.
Molly Bloom. Anna Goldfield.
Lauren Humpert. Joshua Ray.
Mark Sanchez. Charlotte Traver.
Anna Wegel, and Aaron Odusilassie.
Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavadie and Joanne Griffith.
Special thanks to Reina Rivera, Anatole Lieberman, and Marvin Turbin.
Zaya, do you want to give a shout -out?
Yes. I would like to give a shout -out to the Pizza Hut Club and all my friends there, and Coco, Hey T, Amaru as well.
I would also like to give a shout -out to my friends from SASO, Isabella, and Bear.
Y 'all rock. And I would like to give a shout out to my parents and my dog.
And if you want access to ad -free episodes of special bonus content, subscribe to our Smartypass.
OK, Zaya, time to finish up.
Guess that idiom! Sweet.
As a reminder, we're guessing what the meaning of Mi Media Naranja, or my orange half, is in Spanish.
I thought it meant that it was like your other half, like your partner.
Let's hear the answer from Dr. Emilia Tseng.
So imagine that two people are very much in love.
They might say to each other, tú eres mi media naranja.
You are my orange half.
Turns out in English we also have something very similar where we say my other half.
And it's the same idea, this idea that you have a perfect partner out there that will complete you.
Oh my gosh. Zaya, I got it right.
Hooray! Nice job, Joy.
Thank you, thank you.
You know what really helped me through that was you telling me about the orange as a fruit and not a color.
But why is it my orange half in Spanish and not just my other half like it is in English?
Well, nobody knows a hundred percent why, but one theory is that it's because oranges are all different.
So if you split an orange in half, there's only gonna be one other orange half in the whole world that will fit with it perfectly and exactly.
Oh, I love that. That's so beautiful.
Join us next week for an episode all about the history of orchids.
Thanks for listening.
