Making mountains out of molehills: idioms
If you’re from a family who tends to exaggerate, you will be familiar with the term making a mountain out of a molehill. This may come about in a number…
poker is the perfect example of not showing your hand (photo by Raymond Tan)
Chinese Wall is moral dilemma: How idioms originate
As I contemplate my next travel destination, my enthusiasm starts with a trip to Russia, then Egypt and Morocco and finally India, again. Then it occurs to me, having just…
Dual opinions come to blows: how words are misused
Working as a writer and copy editor, I have noticed how the brain tricks you, or me. If the word sounds right in the mind it's easy for it to…
Chinese mourners wear sackcloth
Of Sackcloth and Ashes: How idioms originate
This week I discovered a ‘delightful’ idiom in the novel Sophie’s Bakery for the Broken Hearted by New York Times Best Selling Author, Lolly Winston – sackcloth and ashes. I’ve…
Picture credit: Suzanne Tucker
A pig in a poke
Should you be interested in investments to the point that you start reading books about them, don’t be surprised to find the term ‘a pig in a poke’. When you…
Picture by Ishant Mishra - Unsplash
Know your whopping from your whooping: word usage
In my days as a sub-editor, on seeing the word ‘whopping’ I would strike it out immediately. This was for two reasons: it was usually placed before an amount; adjectives…
Money up front for webinar
No such thing as a free webinar
Last night I tuned into a webinar and it might just be my last. I have done many, maintaining my naivety and unfailing hope to find the magic, the million,…
Japanese armpit model in Tokyo
Seasonal snag for armpit advertising
I was intrigued and a little disgusted to read that Japan is using women’s armpits as an advertising medium. In disbelief, I asked Google and got more than 8 million…
Photo by Laila Klinsmann on Pexels.com
Know how to use rain, rein and reign
It’s spring in South Africa and in the season’s first flush, we had a smattering of rain. That’s the stuff of celebration. What’s not to celebrate is the state of…
Nothing new about disruption innovation
Last night, I attended a local investment ‘Shark Tank’ event where keen start-up entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to a panel of judges. There was no holding back among the business…
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