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Now the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A nickname is a shortened form of a person's name. A nickname can also be a descriptive name for a person, place or thing. Many American cities have nicknames. These can help establish an identity, spread pride among citizens and build unity. Nicknames can also be funny.

Los Angeles, California is the second largest city in population, after New York City. Los Angeles has several nicknames. One is simply the city’s initials, L.A. It is also called the City of Angels because Los Angeles means “the angels” in Spanish.

Los Angeles often has warm, sunny weather. So another nickname is City of Flowers and Sunshine. New York is called The Big Apple. So Los Angeles is sometimes called The Big Orange because of the fruit that grows in that city’s warm climate.

The American motion picture and television industries are based in Los Angeles. So it is not surprising that it is called The Entertainment Capital of the World. Many films are made in the area of Los Angeles called Hollywood. Millions of people visit the area. No trip to Los Angeles is complete without seeing the word "Hollywood" spelled out in huge letters on a hillside.

Many movie stars live in Los Angeles. The city is sometimes called Tinseltown. This nickname comes from the shiny, bright and often unreal nature of Hollywood and the movie industry.

Another nickname for Los Angeles is La-La Land, using the first letters of Los and Angeles. This means a place that is fun and not serious, and maybe even out of touch with reality.

The city of Los Angeles is part of Los Angeles County. There are many smaller cities in the county. Beverly Hills, with its rich people, is one of them. So is Pasadena, with its Rose Parade each New Year's Day. So are the coastal cities of Santa Monica and Malibu, where people like to ride surfboards on the Pacific Ocean waves.

A good place for watching unusual-looking people is Venice, an area on the west side of Los Angeles. A system of waterways designed after the Italian city of Venice has been built there.

Many people love Los Angeles for its warm sunny weather, beautiful mountains and beaches, and movie stars. That includes Randy Newman, who sings about his hometown.

(MUSIC - Randy Newman - "I Love L.A.")

This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A nickname is a shortened form of a person's name. A nickname also can be a descriptive name for a person, place or thing. Many American cities have nicknames. These can help establish an identity, spread pride among citizens and build unity.

A few years ago, some marketing and advertising experts were asked to name the best nickname for an American city. The winner was the nation’s largest city, New York. The top nickname was The Big Apple.

You might wonder how New York got this nickname.In the early nineteen seventies, the city had many problems. The number of visitors was falling.So a campaign was launched to give the city a new image. The head of the New York Conventions and Visitors Bureau decided to call the city, The Big Apple.

There are several explanations for where this name came from. Language expert Barry Popik studied the question and wrote about it on his Web site. He says John Fitz Gerald, a writer for a New York newspaper, used the name the Big Apple to mean New York in the nineteen twenties. Mister Fitz Gerald wrote about horse races. He heard the name used by men who worked at a racetrack in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Mister Fitz Gerald wrote: “The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There’s only one Big Apple. That’s New York.”

In horse racing, the expression meant “the big time,” the place where large amounts of money could be won. The Big Apple became the name of a night club in the Harlem area of New York City in nineteen thirty-four. It also was the name of a popular dance and a hit song in the nineteen thirties.

But it is not the only nickname for America’s largest city. Barry Popik’s web site lists almost one hundred nicknames that describe New York. The best known are the Capital of the World. Empire City. Gotham. The City So Nice They Named it Twice. And the City That Never Sleeps. You can hear about the city in the song, “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra.

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This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word cold.

For centuries, the body's blood has been linked closely with the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold-blooded. Cold-blooded people act in cruel ways. They may do brutal things to others, and not by accident.

For example, a newspaper says the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer. The killer murdered someone, not in self-defense, or because he was reacting to anger or fear. He seemed to kill for no reason, and with no emotion, as if taking someone's life meant nothing.

Cold can affect other parts of the body. The feet, for example. Heavy socks can warm your feet, if your feet are really cold. But there is an expression -- to get cold feet -- that has nothing to do with cold or your feet.

The expression means being afraid to do something you had decided to do. For example, you agree to be president of an organization. But then you learn that all the other officers have resigned. All the work of the organization will be your responsibility. You are likely to get cold feet about being president when you understand the situation.

Cold can also affect your shoulder.

You give someone the cold shoulder when you refuse to speak to them. You treat them in a distant, cold way. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone, instead of speaking to him face-to-face. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has not kept a promise he made to you. Or, to someone who has lied about you to others.

A cold fish is not a fish. It is a person. But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone.

Someone who is a cold fish could be cold-hearted. Now a cold-hearted person is someone who has no sympathy. Several popular songs in recent years were about cold-hearted men or cold-hearted women who, without feeling, broke the hearts of their lovers.

Out in the cold is an expression often heard. It means not getting something that everybody else got. A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise, that he was left out in the cold. And it is not a pleasant place to be.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. Maurice Joyce was the narrator. I'm Shirley Griffith.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Every language has its own special words and expressions. And a story can be told about each of them.

Hot is a simple, easily understood word. So are most of the expressions made with the word hot. But not always, as we shall see.

The words hot potato, for example, give you no idea at all to the meaning of the expression, hot potato.

The potato is a popular vegetable in the United States. Many people like baked potatoes, cooked in an oven or fire. Imagine trying to carry a hot, baked potato in your hand. It would be difficult, even painful, to do so.

Now we are getting close to the meaning of hot potato.

Some publicly disputed issues are highly emotional. The issues must be treated carefully, or they will be difficult and painful if an elected official has to deal with them. As difficult and painful as holding a hot potato.

One such hot potato is taxes.

Calling for higher taxes can mean defeat for a politician. And yet, if taxes are not raised, some very popular government programs could be cut. And that also can make a politician very unpopular. So the questions must be dealt with carefully, the same way you would handle any other hot potato.

Another expression is not so hot. If you ask someone how she feels, she may answer "not so hot." What she means is she does not feel well.

Not so hot also is a way of saying that you do not really like something. You may tell a friend that the new play you saw last night is not so hot. That means you did not consider it a success.

A hot shot is a person, often a young person, who thinks he can do anything. At least he wants to try. He is very sure he can succeed. But often he fails. The expression was born in the military forces. A hot shot was a soldier who fired without aiming carefully.

Hot is a word that is often used to talk about anger.

A person who becomes angry easily is called a hothead. An angry person's neck often becomes red. We say he is hot under the collar. You could say that your friend is no hothead. But he got hot under the collar when someone took his radio.

In nineteen sixty-three, hot line appeared as a new expression.

The hot line was a direct communications link between the leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States. The hot line had an important purpose: to prevent accidental war between the two competitors during the period known as the Cold War. The American president and the Soviet leader were able to communicate directly and immediately on the hot line. This helped prevent any conflict during an international crisis.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Our program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. I'm Warren Scheer.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Some expressions describe people who are important, or who at least think they are. One such expression is bigwig.

In the seventeenth century, important men in Europe began to wear false hair, called wigs. As years passed, wigs began to get bigger. The size of a man's wig depended on how important he was. The more important he was -- or thought he was -- the bigger the wig he wore. Some wigs were so large they covered a man's shoulders or back.

Today, the expression bigwig is used to make fun of a person who feels important. People never tell someone he is a bigwig. They only use the expression behind his back.

Big wheel is another way to describe an important person. A big wheel may be the head of a company, a political leader, a famous movie star. They are big wheels because they are powerful. What they do affects many people. Big wheels give the orders. Other people carry them out. As in many machines, a big wheel makes the little wheels turn.

Big wheel [became] a popular expression after World War Two. It probably comes from an expression used for many years by people who fix parts of cars and trucks. They said a person rolled a big wheel if he was important and had influence.

The top of something is the highest part. So it is not surprising that top is part of another expression that describes an important person. The expression is top banana. A top banana is the leading person in a comedy show. The funniest comedian is called the top banana. The next is second banana. And so on.

Why a banana? A comedy act in earlier days often included a part where one of the comedians would hit the others over the head with a soft object. The object was shaped like the yellow fruit: the banana.

Top banana still is used mainly in show business. Yet the expression can also be used to describe the top person in any area.

A kingpin is another word for an important person. The expression comes from the game of bowling. The kingpin is the number one pin. If hit correctly with the bowling ball, the kingpin will make all the other nine pins fall. And that is the object of the game.

So, the most important person in a project or business is the kingpin. If the kingpin is removed, the business or project is likely to fail.

Kingpin is often used to describe an important criminal, or the leader of a criminal gang. A newspaper may report, for example, that police have arrested the suspected kingpin of a car-stealing operation.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn Christiano. I'm Warren Scheer.

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Now, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

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It is surprising how many expressions that Americans use every day came from the card game of poker. For example, you hear the expression, ace in the hole, used by many people who would never think of going near a poker table. An ace in the hole is any argument, plan or thing kept hidden until needed. It is used especially when it can turn failure into success.

In poker and most card games, the ace is the highest and most valuable card. It is often a winning card. In one kind of poker game, the first card to each player is given face down. A player does not show this card to the other players. The other cards are dealt face up. The players bet money each time they receive another card.

No one knows until the end of the game whose hidden card is the winner. Often, the ace in the hole wins the game.

Smart card players, especially those who play for large amounts of money, closely watch the person who deals the cards. They are watching to make sure he is dealing honestly. They want to be sure that he is not dealing off the bottom of the stack of cards. A dealer who is doing that has stacked the deck. He has fixed the cards so that he will get higher cards. He will win and you will lose.

The expression, dealing off the bottom, now means cheating in business, as well as in cards. And when someone tells you that the cards are stacked against you, he is saying you do not have a chance to succeed.

In a poker game you do not want to let your opponents know if your cards are good or bad. So having a poker face is important. A poker face never shows any emotion, never expresses either good or bad feelings. No one can learn – by looking at your face – if your cards are good or bad.

People now use poker face in everyday speech to describe someone who shows no emotion.

Someone who has a poker face usually is good at bluffing. Bluffing is trying to trick a person into believing something about you that is not true.

In poker, you bluff when you bet heavily on a poor hand. The idea is to make the other players believe you have strong cards and are sure to win. If they believe you, they are likely to drop out of the game. This means you win the money they have bet.

You can do a better job of bluffing if you hold your cards close to your vest. You hold your cards close to you so no one can see what you have. In everyday speech, holding your cards close to your vest means not letting others know what you are doing or thinking. You are keeping your plans secret.

We are not bluffing when we say we hope you have enjoyed today’s program.

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This Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. This is Bob Doughty.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. Many everyday American expressions are based on colors.

Red is a hot color. Americans often use it to express heat. They may say they are red hot about something unfair. When they are red hot they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hots for their color and their fiery taste. Fast loud music is popular with many people. They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixieland jazz.

Pink is a lighter kind of red. People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health. The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the twentieth century. It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health.

Blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow, sad and soulful. Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded a famous song – Mood Indigo – about the deep blue color, indigo. In the words of the song: “You ain’t been blue till you’ve had that Mood Indigo.” Someone who is blue is very sad.

The color green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural color for humans. A person who has a sick feeling stomach may say she feels a little green. A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green.

Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car. That person may say he is green with envy. Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks. Dollars are called greenbacks because that is the color of the back side of the paper money.

The color black is used often in expressions. People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day. The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day. A blacklist is illegal now. But at one time, some businesses refused to employ people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations.

In some cases, colors describe a situation. A brown out is an expression for a reduction in electric power. Brown outs happen when there is too much demand for electricity. The electric system is unable to offer all the power needed in an area. Black outs were common during World War Two. Officials would order all lights in a city turned off to make it difficult for enemy planes to find a target in the dark of night.

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I’m Warren Scheer. Listen again next week for another WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Today, we tell about the word wildcat.

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Humans have always depended on animals. From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine.

We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways.

Many companies use animals to make us want to buy their goods. Automobile companies, for example, love to show fast horses when they are trying to sell their cars. They also name their cars for other fast powerful animals.

Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats.

When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.

What better way is there to sell a car than to say it is as fast as a wildcat. Or, what better way is there to sell gasoline than to say that using it is like putting a tiger in your tank.

An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in eighteen twelve. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.

Wildcat also has been used as a name for money. It was used this way in the eighteen hundreds. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it.

Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat bank note. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks.

A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.

Wildcat was used in another way in the eighteen hundreds. It was used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.

Yet another kind of wildcat is the wildcat strike. That is a strike called without official approval by a union. During World War Two, an American publication accused wildcat strikers of slowing government production.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jeri Watson. I'm Warren Scheer.

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I'm Susan Clark with the Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Tom Smith is the best hitter on his company's baseball team. For weeks during the playing season, Tom hit a home run in every game the team played. But then suddenly he stopped hitting home runs. He could not hit the baseball at all.

One day he struck out three times in one game. He said, "I am afraid I am losing it."

Mary Jones bought a dress in a woman's clothing store. She felt very happy about buying the dress until she got home. Then she remembered she had left her credit card at the store when she used it to pay for the dress. It was the third time that month that Mary had forgotten something important.

Mary was angry with herself. She said, "Am I losing it?"

Emma Cleveland was teaching a class in mathematics at a college. She began to explain to the students how to solve a very difficult problem. She understood it very well. But somehow, at that moment, she could not explain it. Emma said, "I must be losing it."

Americans seem to have a lot of concern about losing it. At least that is what you would think from hearing them talk. They use the expression when they feel they are losing control. It can mean losing emotional control. Or losing the ability to do something. Or losing mental powers.

Word experts differ about how the expression started. Some believe it came from television programs popular in the nineteen eighties. Others believe it began with psychologists and psychiatrists who deal with how people think, feel and act.

One psychologist said, "We Americans have many concerns about controlling our lives. Perhaps we worry too much."

She continued, "In many situations, to say you are losing it eases the tension. It is healthy. And most people who say they are having a problem are not losing it." People may feel more like they are losing it when they are "down in the dumps."

People who are down in the dumps are sad. They are depressed.

Word expert Charles Funk says people have been feeling down in the dumps for more than four-hundred years. Sir Thomas More used the expression in fifteen thirty-four. He wrote, "Our poor family ... has fallen in such dumps."

Word experts do not agree what the word dumps means. One expert, John Ayto, says the word dumps probably comes from the Scandinavian countries. The languages of Denmark and Norway both have similar words. The words mean to fall suddenly.

Americans borrowed this saying. And, over the years, it has become a popular way of expressing sadness.

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This WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program was written by Jeri Watson. I'm Susan Clark.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Most people enjoy working for several reasons. Their job might be fun, or they like their employer and the other people at work. Most people I know, however, work for the money. I do not know anyone who is loaded, or extremely rich. Most of my friends work to earn enough money to live. They have to make ends meet. They have to earn enough money to pay for the things they need. Some even live from hand to mouth. They only have enough money for the most important things.

They struggle to earn enough money to bring home the bacon. It can be difficult to earn enough money for a family to survive. Sometimes, poor people even get caught short. They do not have enough money to pay for what they need.

Or they have to spend or lay out more money than they want for something. When this happens, poor people have to tighten their belts and live on less money than usual. I hate when I have to live on less money. It takes me longer to get back on my feet, or return to good financial health.

However, other people are on the gravy train. They get paid more money than their job is worth. These people make a bundle. They really rake in the cash. In fact, they make so much money that they can live high off the hog. They own the best of everything and live in great ease. Sometimes they pay an arm and a leg for something.

Because money is no object to wealthy people, they will pay high prices for whatever they want. Sometimes, they even pay through the nose. They pay too much for things.

I am not rich. I did not make a killing in the stock market when my stocks increased in value. Yet, I am not poor either. When I go out with friends, I do not want to shell out or pay a lot of money. Often, my friends and I will chip in or pay jointly for a fun night out. When we go to restaurants the meal is Dutch treat. Each person pays his or her own share.

Once, the owner of a restaurant gave us a dinner on the house. We did not have to pay for our meals. However, I admit that we had to grease someone’s palm. We had to pay money to the employee who led us to our table. The money was for a special request. Yes, it was a buy off. The employee put us at the top of the list for a table instead of making us wait like everyone else. We had a great time that night and the meal did not set me back at all. I did not have to pay anything.

Because of that experience, I will always remember that nice things still happen in a world that is driven by money. But, that is just my two cents worth. It is just my opinion.

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WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Many people believe that money makes the world go around. Others believe that money buys happiness. I do not agree with either idea. But I do admit that money can make people do strange things. Let me tell you about a person I once knew who liked to play card games for money. He liked to gamble.

My friend Bob had a problem because he liked to gamble at all costs. He would play at any time and at any price. To take part in a card game such as poker, my friend would have to ante up. He would have to pay a small amount of money at the beginning of the game.

Bob always played with cold, hard cash --onlycoins and dollar bills. Sometimes my friend would clean up. He would win a lot of money on one card game. He liked to tell me that one day he would break the bank. What a feeling it must be to win all of the money at a gambling table!

Other times my friend would simply break even. He neither won nor lost money. But sometimes Bob would lose his shirt. He would lose all the money he had. He took a beating at the gambling table. When this happened, my friend would have to go in the hole. He would go into debt and owe people money.

Recently, Bob turned to crime after losing all his money. In his job, he kept the books for a small business. He supervised the records of money earned and spent by the company. Although my friend was usually honest, he decided to cook the books. He illegally changed the financial records of the company. This permitted him to make a fast buck. My friend made some quick, easy money dishonestly.

I never thought Bob would have sticky fingers. He did not seem like a thief who would steal money. But, some people will do anything for love of money.

Bob used the money he stole from his company to gamble again. This time, he cashed in. He made a lot of money. Quickly he was back on his feet. He had returned to good financial health. His company, however, ended up in the red. It lost more money than it earned. The company was no longer profitable.

It did not take long before my friend’s dishonesty was discovered. The company investigated and charged him with stealing. Bob tried to pass the buck. He tried to blame someone else for the deficit. His lie did not work, however. He ended up in jail. Today, I would bet my bottom dollar that my friend will never gamble again. I would bet all I have that he learned his lesson about gambling.

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WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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I think people everywhere dream about having lots of money. I know I do. I would give anything to make money hand over fist. I would like to earn large amounts of money. You could win a large amount of money in the United States through lotteries. People pay money for tickets with numbers. If your combination of numbers is chosen, you win a huge amount of money – often in the millions. Winning the lottery is a windfall.

A few years ago, my friend Al won the lottery. It changed his life. He did not have a rich family. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Instead, my friend was always hard up for cash. He did not have much money. And the money he did earn was chicken feed – very little.

Sometimes Al even had to accept hand-outs, gifts from his family and friends. But do not get me wrong. My friend was not a deadbeat. He was not the kind of person who never paid the money he owed. He simply pinched pennies. He was always very careful with the money he spent. In fact, he was often a cheapskate. He did not like to spend money. The worst times were when he was flat broke and had no money at all.

One day, Al scraped together a few dollars for a lottery ticket. He thought he would never strike it rich or gain lots of money unexpectedly. But his combination of numbers was chosen and he won the lottery. He hit the jackpot. He won a great deal of money.

Al was so excited. The first thing he did was buy a costly new car. He splurged on the one thingthat he normally would not buy. Then he started spending money on unnecessary things. He started to waste it. It was like he had money to burn. He had more money than he needed and it was burning a hole in his pocket so he spent it quickly.

When we got together for a meal at a restaurant, Al paid every time. He would always foot the bill, and pick up the tab. He told me the money made him feel like a million dollars. He was very happy.

But, Al spent too much money. Soon my friend was down and out again. He had no money left. He was back to being strapped for cash. He had spent his bottom dollar, his very last amount. He did not even build up a nest egg. He had not saved any of the money.

I admit I do feel sorry for my friend. He had enough money to live like a king. Instead, he is back to living on a shoestring -- a very low budget. Some might say he is penny wise and pound foolish. He was wise about small things, but not about important things.

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WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Cats are the most popular pets among Americans. So it is not surprising that there are many expressions about cats. Some cats like to catch small birds, like canaries. If someone looks very proud or satisfied with himself, we say he looks like the cat that ate the canary.

Sometimes, a cat likes to play with a small animal it catches.

So if you play cat and mouse with someone,you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For example, a child might offer something sweet to her little brother and then take it away when he reaches for it.

A cat will often catch a small animal and present it to its owner. The saying that looks like something the cat dragged in describes something in bad condition.

Two old and funny expressions describe something that is the best or finest. Americans might say that something is the cat's meow and the cat's pajamas.

Children might call a child who is easily frightened a fraidy cat or a scaredy cat. A copycat is someone who acts just like someone else or copies another person's work. A fat cat is a person with a lot of money.

You may have known that cats spend most of their time sleeping. Sometimes people sleep for a short time during the day. This is called a cat nap.

If you tell about something that was supposed to be a secret, we say you let the cat out of the bag. If you are not able to speak or answer a question someone might ask if the cat has got your tongue.

Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacher leaves for a few minutes? When the cat's away, the mice will play means people sometimes misbehave when there is no supervision.

You may have heard this expression: curiosity killed the cat.This means being too concerned about things that are not your business might cause problems.

If your home is very small, you might say there is not enough room to swing a cat. But you probably should not try this at home!

If you ever had cats as pets, you know it is difficult to train them or to get them to do something. Cats are not like sheep or cows that can be moved in a group. So we say a difficult or impossible job is like herding cats.

We leave you with a song from the musical play, "Cats."

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This VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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Now, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES - a VOA Special English program about American expressions. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with some expressions containing the word hit.

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Hit is a small word but it has a lot of power. Baseball players hit the ball. Missiles hit an airplane. A car hits a tree.

Hit also joins with other words to create many colorful expressions. One is hit the road. It means to travel or to leave a place, as suggested in this song, "Hit the Road."

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Another common expression is hit the spot. At first it meant hitting a spot at the center of a target with an arrow. Someone who did so was satisfied with his shooting. Now, hitting the spot usually means that a food or drink is especially satisfying.

Many years ago, Pepsi Cola sold its drink with a song that began, "Pepsi Cola hits the spot, twelve full ounces, that's a lot…"

Another expression involving hit is hit bottom. Something that has hit bottom can go no lower. If the price of shares of a stock hits bottom that might be the time to buy it. Its value can only go up.

A student who tells you his grades have hit bottom is saying he has not done well in school.

When a student's grades hit bottom it is time to hit the books. Hit the books is another way to saying it is time to study. A student might have to tell her friends she can not go with them to the movies because she has to hit the books.

Not hitting the books could lead to an unpleasant situation for a student. The father or mother may hit the ceiling when they see the low grades. Someone who hits the ceiling, the top of the room, is violently angry. A wife may hit the ceiling because her husband forgot their wedding anniversary.

To build something of wood, you usually need a hammer. That is what you use to hit nails into the pieces of wood to hold them together. When you hit the nail on the head, exactly on its top, it goes into the wood perfectly. And when someone says your words or actions hit the nail on the head, he means what you said or did was exactly right.

If you are tired after hitting all those nails on the head, then it is time to hit the hay. That expression comes from the days when people slept on beds filled with dried grass or hay. Some people slept on hay in barns where they kept their farm animals.

Hitting the hay simply means going to bed. That is a good idea. I think I will hit the hay now.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Frank Beardsley. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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A person’s nose is important for breathing and smelling. The nose is also used in many popular expressions.

Some people are able to lead other people by the nose. For example, if a wife leads her husband by the nose, she makes him do whatever she wants him to do.

Some people are said to be hard-nosed. They will not change their opinions or positions on anything. If someone is hard-nosed, chances are he will never pay through the nose, or pay too much money, for an object or service.

It is always helpful when people keep their nose out of other people’s business. They do not interfere. The opposite of this is someone who noses around all the time. This kind of person is interested in other people’s private matters. He is considered nosey.

Someone who keeps his nose to the grindstone works very hard. This can help a worker keep his nose clean or stay out of trouble.

One unusual expression is that is no skin off my nose. This means that a situation does not affect or concern me. We also say that sometimes a person cuts off his nose to spite his face. That is, he makes a situation worse for himself by doing something foolish because he is angry.

More problems can develop if a person looks down his nose at someone or something. The person acts like something is unimportant or worthless. This person might also turn up his nose at something that he considers not good enough. This person thinks he is better than everyone else. He has his nose in the air.

In school, some students thumb their nose at their teacher. They refuse to obey orders or do any work. Maybe these students do not know the correct answers. My mother always told me, if you study hard, the answers should be right under your nose or easily seen.

I think we have explained the nose expressions. What about ears? Well, I hope you are all ears or very interested in hearing more expressions. We might even put a bug in your ear or give you an idea about something. We also advise you to keep your ear to the ground. This means to be interested in what is happening around you and what people are thinking.

If you are a good person, you will lend an ear to your friends. You will listen to them when they have a problem they need to talk about. Our last expression is to play it by ear. This has two meanings. One is to play a song on a musical instrument by remembering the tune and not by reading the music. Play it by ear also means to decide what to do at the last minute instead of making detailed plans.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Today’s program is all about eyes. When it comes to relationships, people’s eyes can be a window into their hearts. This means that their eyes can tell a lot about how they feel. We will tell a story about a man and woman who are teachers at the same school. The woman is interested in the man. She uses many methods to catch his eye, or get him to notice her. Once he sets eyes on her, or sees her, she might try to get him interested in her by acting playful. In other words, she might try to make eyes at him or give him the eye.

Let us suppose that this man gets hit between the eyes. In other words, the woman has a strong affect on him. He wants to spend time with her to get to know her better. He asks her out on a date.

She is so happy that she may walk around for days with stars in her eyes. She is extremely happy because this man is the apple of her eye, a very special person. She might tell him that he is the only person she wants, or “I only have eyes for you.”

On their date, the couple might eat a meal together at a restaurant. If the man is really hungry, his eyes might be bigger than his stomach. He might order more food than he can eat. When his food arrives at the table, his eyes might pop out. He might be very surprised by the amount of food provided. He might not even believe his own eyes. If fact, all eyes would be watching him if he ate all the food. This might even cause raised eyebrows. People might look at the man with disapproval.

During their dinner, the couple might discuss many things. They might discover that they see eye to eye, or agree on many issues. They share the same beliefs and opinions. For example, they might agree that every crime or injury should be punished. That is, they firmly believe in the idea of an eye for an eye. They might also agree that it is wrong to pull the wool over a person’s eyes. This means to try to trick a person by making him believe something that is false. But the man and woman do not believe in the evil eye, that a person can harm you by looking at you.

The next day, at their school, the woman asks the man to keep an eye on, or watch the young students in her class while she is out of the classroom. This might be hard to do when the teacher is writing on a board at the front of the classroom. To do so, a teacher would need to have eyes in the back of his head. In other words, he would know what the children are doing even when he is not watching them.

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WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we explain more proverbs. A proverb is a short, well-known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Proverbs are popular around the world. Many proverbs give advice about how to live. Some proverbs are hundreds of years old, but they are still used today.

For example, my son is just like his father in many ways. We often say the two of them prove the proverb that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

My daughter is very short. She would like to be taller.But I tell her that good things come in small packages. The size of something is not always important.Some valuable things are very small, like diamonds and other jewels.But I also tell my children that all that glitters is not gold. Do not befooled by appearances. Something may look valuable, but may not really be valuable. Also, I tell them do not judge a book by its cover. You should not judge something only by its appearance.

Another proverb is, do not bite off more than you can chew. This means do not try to do more than you are able to do.

Some times I tell my children to cooperate to solve a problem. After all, two heads are better than one. Two people working together can get better results. But another proverb says too many cooks spoil the broth. If too many people try to do something, then the job will not be done well.

I also tell my children that two wrongs do not make a right.You should not do something bad just because someone did the same to you.

Some people are pessimists: they always think about how bad things are or will be. Other people are optimists: they always look on the bright side.They think things will be all right.

Optimists might say that every cloud has a silver lining. They can find something good even in a bad situation. Other people are both pessimists and optimists.They hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Some people often worry about what they will do in a situation that might happen in the future. We could tell them do not cross that bridge until you come to it.

It is usually much better to prevent a problem from happening than it is to find ways to solve it. So we say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Finally, I always liked this proverb: You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Honey is sweet while vinegar is not.In other words, you can win people to your side more easily with gentle persuasion than by hostile actions.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein.You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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Texas is called the Lone Star State. It gets its nickname from the single star on its flag. This represents the short time Texas was an independent nation battling Mexico for self-rule.

The Beehive State of Utah has no more beehives than any other state. The nickname is from the Mormon Church's symbol for hard work.

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Today, we tell about more interesting nicknames of American states.

The mid-Atlantic state of Maryland is called the Free State. A Baltimore newspaper first called it that during the nineteen twenties when the manufacture and sale of alcohol were banned for a time. Maryland said it wanted to be free from this prohibition.

Mississippi is the Magnolia State. It is named for a tree with big, beautiful white flowers that grows in that hot, southern state.

The midwestern state of Missouri is called the Show Me State. The people of that frontier state were once famous for not believing everything people told them.

If you visit the western mountain and plains state of Montana you will know why it is known as Big Sky Country.

Nebraska is the only state to have a nickname that honors sports teams! The state university's athletic teams are nicknamed Cornhuskers in recognition of one of the area's chief crops. The state borrowed the Cornhusker nickname from the university.

The western desert state of Nevada is called the Silver State. It was once home to many silver mines and towns that grew up around them. Today, most of them are empty “ghost towns.”

New Hampshire, in the northeast area called New England, is the Granite State because of that colorful rock.

New Jersey is between the big cities of New York, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It got its nickname, the Garden State, because New Jersey truck farms once provided vegetables to those big cities.

New York, which always thinks big, was called the Empire State because of its natural wealth. The most famous Manhattan skyscraper got its name from the state. It is, of course, the Empire State Building.

If you get a chance to see a red sunset over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico, you will know why that southwestern state is called the Land of Enchantment.

North and South Carolina were one colony until seventeen twenty-nine. South Carolina's nickname is the easier of the two: It is the Palmetto State because of a fan-leafed palm tree that grows there. North Carolina is the Tar Heel State. That is because many of the men who worked to gather substances from trees wore no shoes. They would make turpentine from tar and get the black, sticky tar on the heels of their feet.

Next week, we will finish telling about the colorful nicknames of American states.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Ted Landphair. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

As we told you last week, every American state has a nickname. Here are some more of them.

Idaho is known as the Gem State. This is not because it has diamonds but because it believes it is the jewel of the western Rocky Mountains. Illinois is the Land of Lincoln. It is named for Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president who led the nation through the Civil War in the eighteen sixties. The Midwestern state of Indiana is called the Hoosier State, but nobody is quite sure why.

One story is that the word was used to mean poor farmers or uneducated people. No wonder the state legislature instead calls Indiana the Crossroads of America. Iowa's nickname, the Hawkeye State, is in honor of Black Hawk, an Indian chief who spent most of his life in neighboring Illinois!

Kansas also has a "hawkish" nickname: the Jayhawk State. Jayhawkers were free-state guerrilla fighters opposed to the pro-slavery fighters in the years before the Civil War.

Kentucky is the Bluegrass State. Bluegrass is really bright green but looks bluish from a distance. Louisiana is the Bayou State. A bayou is a slow-moving stream. Hundreds of them flow through this southern state, and many are full of alligators!

Maine, in the nation's northeast, is the Pine Tree State because it is covered in evergreen woods. And directly across the country, on the Pacific Coast, is the state of Washington. It also has lots of evergreen trees so, not surprisingly, it is the Evergreen State.

The eastern state of Massachusetts is the Bay State. This body of water separates most of the state from famous Cape Cod.

Six state nicknames are taken from native animals. Michigan is the Wolverine State. A wolverine is a small, fierce mammal. The badger is a similar and equally fierce creature and Wisconsin is the Badger State.

Neighboring Minnesota, the Gopher State, is named for a much nicer animal that builds hills and tunnels. However, the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes is written on Minnesota's vehicle license plates.

North Dakota gets its nickname, the Flickertail State not from some bird, but from a little squirrel. South Dakota takes its nickname, the Coyote State, from an animal that thinks flickertails are good to eat!

And Oregon, the Beaver State, borrows its nickname from the large, flat-tailed rodent that uses trees to build dams.

Next week, we will tell you about more state nicknames, including one that is about people's feet!

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This VOA Special English program was written by Ted Landphair. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A nickname is a shortened form of a person's name. A nickname can also be a descriptive name for a person, place or thing.

America's fifty states have some of the most historically interesting nicknames.

Alabama is known as the Heart of Dixie because it is in the very middle of a group of states in the Deep South. Dixie itself is a nickname for the American South. It started when Louisiana printed notes with the French word for "ten" on them. "Deece," or D-I-X, led to "Dixie."

Way up north, Alaska is called the Last Frontier for understandable reasons. Near the Arctic Circle, it was the final part of the nation to be explored and settled.

Arizona is the Grand Canyon State because of the famous winding canyon carved by the Colorado River. The southern state of Arkansas is the Land of Opportunity. The state legislature chose this nickname. Arkansas is rich in natural resources and has become a favorite place for older people to retire.

In a popular Spanish book, a fictional island called "California" was filled with gold. Sure enough, plenty of it was discovered in the real California, in eighteen forty-eight. This started a gold rush unlike any other in American history in the Golden State.

You would think Colorado would be known as the Rocky Mountain State. But its nickname is the Centennial State. That is because it became a state in eighteen seventy-six, exactly one hundred years after the nation declared its independence.

Connecticut is called the Nutmeg State after a spice. Connecticut Yankees, as people in this northeast state are called, are known to be smart in business. So smart that it was said they could sell wooden, meaning false, nutmegs to strangers.

Little Delaware is called the First State because it was the first state -- the first to approve the new United States Constitution.

The southern state of Florida likes to tell about its sunny days and fine beaches. So Florida is the Sunshine State. Florida's neighbor to the north grows some of the sweetest fruit in America. So Georgia is the Peach State.

Hawaii, far out in the Pacific Ocean, is the Aloha State. That is the friendly greeting that means both "hello" and "goodbye" in the native Hawaiian language. So, aloha for now. Next week we will tell you about the nicknames of more American states.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Ted Landphair. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Today I will tell about expressions using numbers. Let us start with the number one. Numbers can be tricky. On the one hand, they are simply numbers. On the other hand, they have meanings. I for one use these expressions a lot.

Many people consider themselves number one, the most important person. They are always looking out for number one and taking care of number one. It is as if they are the one and only person on Earth. Some people however, are not so self-centered. My brother is such a person. It is true – no joke. I am not trying to pull a fast one on you.

First, you have to understand that my brother is one in a million. He is such a nice person. All his friends like him. They consider him one of the boys. Recently, my brother had a bad day at the office. It was just one of those days. Nothing went right. So he stopped at a local bar -- a drinking place -- after leaving work. My brother planned to have a glass of beer with his friends -- a quick one – before he went home. But a quick one turned into one or two, and soon those became one too many.

As my brother was leaving, he ordered a last drink -- one for the road. His friends became concerned. One by one, they asked him if he was able to drive home safely.

Now my brother is a wise and calm person. He is at one with himself. He recognizes when he has had too much alcohol to drink. So he accepted an offer for a ride home from a female friend.

At one time in the past, my brother had been in love with this woman. She is a great person -- kind, thoughtful and intelligent -- all good qualities rolled up into one. But sadly their relationship did not work. He always used to say "One of these days, I am going to marry this girl." But that never happened.

For one thing, she did not love him as much as he loved her. It was just one of those things. The situation was regrettable and my brother had to accept it. But even now, he considers her the one that got away.

However, they are still friends. And because my brother had been kind to her, she felt that one good turn deserves another. He was good to her and she wanted to help him in return. So she drove him home.

If my brother had driven home from the bar that night, his number would have been up. Something bad would have happened. Thankfully he made it home safely. And, he and the woman are back to square one. They are back to where they started – being friends.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today, we tell about "horse" expressions. In the past, many people depended on horses for transportation, farming and other kinds of work. A lot of people still like to ride horses. And, horse racing is also popular. So it is not surprising that Americans still use expressions about the animals.

Long ago, people who were rich or important rode horses that were very tall. Today, if a girl acts like she is better than everyone else, you might say she should get off her high horse.

Yesterday my children wanted me to take them to the playground. But I had to finish my work, so I told them to hold your horses. Wait until I finish what I am doing. My two boys like to compete against each other and play in a violent way. I always tell them to stop horsing around or someone could get hurt.

We live in a small town. It does not have any exciting activities to offer visitors. My children call it at a one-horse town.

Last night, I got a telephone call while I was watching my favorite television show. I decided not to answer it because wild horses could not drag me away from the television. There was nothing that could stop me from doing what I wanted to do.

Sometimes you get information straight from the horse's mouth. It comes directly from the person who knows most about the subject and is the best source. Let us say your teacher tells you there is going to be a test tomorrow. You could say you got the information straight from the horse's mouth. However, you would not want to call your teacher a horse!

You may have heard this expression: You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. That means you can give someone advice but you cannot force him to do something he does not want to do.

Sometimes a person fights a battle that has been decided or keeps arguing a question that has been settled. We say this is like beating a dead horse.

In politics, a dark-horse candidate is someone who is not well known to the public. Sometimes, a dark horse unexpectedly wins an election.

Another piece of advice is, do not change horses in midstream. You would not want to get off one horse and on to another in the middle of a river. Or make major changes in an activity that has already begun. In the past, this expression was used as an argument to re-elect a president, especially during a time when the country was at war.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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There are many American expressions about insects -- like bees, for example. Bees are known as very hard workers. They always appear to be busy, moving around their homes, or hives. So you might say you were as busy as a bee if you spent your weekend cleaning your house.

In fact, you might say your house was a beehive of activity if your whole family was helping you clean. You also might say you made a beeline for something if you went there right away. When we go to see a movie, my friend always makes a beeline for the place where they sell popcorn.

Here is an expression about bees that is not used much any more, but we like it anyway. We think it was first used in the nineteen twenties. If something was the best of its kind, you might say it was the bee's knees. Now, we admit that we do not know how this expression developed. In fact, we do not even know if bees have knees!

If your friend cannot stop talking about something because she thinks it is important, you might say she has a bee in her bonnet. If someone asks you a personal question, you might say "that is none of your beeswax." This means none of your business.

Speaking of personal questions, there is an expression people sometimes use when their children ask, "where do babies come from?" Parents who discuss sex and reproduction say this is talking about the birds and the bees.

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Hornets are bee-like insects that sometimes attack people. If you are really angry, you might say you are mad as a hornet. And if you stir up a hornet's nest, you create trouble or problems.

Butterflies are beautiful insects, but you would not want to have butterflies in your stomach. That means to be nervous about having to do something, like speaking in front of a crowd. You would also not want to have ants in your pants. That is, to be restless and unable to sit still.

Here are some expressions about plain old bugs, another word for insects. If a friend keeps asking you to do something you do not want to do, you might ask him to leave you alone or "stop bugging me." A friend also might tell you again and again to do something. If so, you might say he put a bug in your ear.

If you were reading a book in your warm bed on a cold winter's day, you might say you were snug as a bug in a rug. And if you wish someone good night, you might say, "sleep tight -- don't let the bed bugs bite."

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we explain a very old saying that has had a big influence on rock-and-roll music. That saying is a rolling stone gathers no moss. It has several meanings. One meaning is that a person who never settles down in one place will not be successful. Another is that someone who is always moving, with no roots in one place, avoids responsibilities.

This proverb was said to be first used in the fifteen hundreds. But in the nineteen sixties, the expression rolling stone became famous in the world of rock-and-roll music. It became the name of a rock group, a song and a magazine.

Experts say it all started with a song by the American singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. He was one of the country’s top blues musicians until his death in nineteen eighty-three. His music influenced singers like Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. In nineteen-fifty, Muddy Waters recorded a song called “Rollin’ Stone.”

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A British rock group is said to have taken its name from Muddy Waters’ song. The Rolling Stones performed for the first time in nineteen sixty-two. The group’s members called themselves “the world’s greatest rock and roll band.”

In nineteen sixty-five, Bob Dylan released his song “Like a Rolling Stone.” It is one of his best known and most influential works.

It is an angry song about a woman who was once rich and successful. But now she is on her own, “with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone.”

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In nineteen sixty-seven, a young man named Jann Wenner started a magazine he named “Rolling Stone.” The magazine reported on rock music and the popular culture that the music created. By nineteen seventy-one, “Rolling Stone” had become the leading rock music and counterculture publication. It is still popular today.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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I'm Susan Clark with the Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A woman from Japan was telling a friend about her trip to the United States. The woman had visited major businesses and investment companies in New York City and Chicago.

"I studied English before I left home, " she said. "But I still was not sure that people were speaking English."

Her problem is easy to understand. Americans in business are like people who are in business anywhere. They have a language of their own. Some of the words and expressions deal with the special areas of their work. Other expressions are borrowed from different kinds of work such as the theater and movie industry.

One such saying is get your act together.

When things go wrong in a business, an employer may get angry. He may shout, "Stop making mistakes. Get your act together."

Or, if the employer is calmer, he may say, "Let us get our act together."

Either way, the meaning is the same. Getting your act together is getting organized. In business, it usually means to develop a calm and orderly plan of action.

It is difficult to tell exactly where the saying began. But, it is probable that it was in the theater or movie industry. Perhaps one of the actors was nervous and made a lot of mistakes. The director may have said, "Calm down, now. Get your act together."

Word expert James Rogers says the expression was common by the late nineteen seventies. Mister Rogers says the Manchester Guardian newspaper used it in nineteen seventy-eight. The newspaper said a reform policy required that the British government get its act together.

Now, this expression is heard often when officials of a company meet. One company even called its yearly report, "Getting Our Act Together."

The Japanese visitor was confused by another expression used by American business people. It is cut to the chase.

She heard that expression when she attended an important meeting of one company. One official was giving a very long report. It was not very interesting. In fact, some people at the meeting were falling asleep.

Finally, the president of the company said, "Cut to the chase."

Cut to the chase means to stop spending so much time on details or unimportant material. Hurry and get to the good part.

Naturally, this saying was started by people who make movies. Hollywood movie producers believe that most Americans want to see action movies. Many of their movies show scenes in which the actors chase each other in cars, or in airplanes or on foot.

Cut is the director's word for stop. The director means to stop filming, leave out some material, and get to the chase scene now.

So, if your employer tells you to cut to the chase, be sure to get to the main point of your story quickly.

This WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program was written by Jeri Watson. I'm Susan Clark.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. Some of these expressions are easy to understand. The words create a picture in your mind.

“As easy as falling off a log” is one such expression. It describes a job that does not take much effort.

If you ever tried to walk on a fallen tree log, you understand what the expression means. It is easier to fall off the log than to stay on it.

The expression is often used today. For example, you might hear a student say to her friend that her spelling test was “as easy as falling off a log.”

There are several other expressions that mean the same thing. And their meaning is as easy to understand as “falling off a log.” One is, “easy as pie”. Nothing is easier than eating a piece of sweet, juicy pie. Unless it is a “piece of cake."

“Piece of cake” is another expression that means something is extremely easy to do. A friend might tell you that his new job was a ”piece of cake.”

Another expression is “as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.”

It is hard to imagine why anyone would want to shoot fish in a barrel. But, clearly, fish in a barrel would be much easier to shoot than fish in a stream. In fact, it would be as easy as “falling off a log”.

Sometimes, things that come to us easily, also leave us just as easily. In fact, there is an expression – “easy come, easy go” – that recognizes this. You may win a lot of money in a lottery, then spend it all in a few days. Easy come, easy go.

When life itself is easy, when you have no cares or problems, you are on “Easy Street.” Everyone wants to live on that imaginary street.

Another “easy” expression is to “go easy on a person”. It means to treat a person kindly or gently, especially in a situation where you might be expected to be angry with him. A wife might urge her husband to “go easy on” their son, because the boy did not mean to wreck the car.

If it is necessary to borrow some money to fix the car, you should look for a friend who is an “easy touch”. An “easy touch” or a “soft touch” is someone who is kind and helpful. He would easily agree to lend you the money.

And one last expression, one that means do not worry or work too hard. Try to keep away from difficult situations. “Take it easy” until we meet again.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories. I’m Bob Doughty.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Each week, this program explains the many meanings of English expressions. Today’s expressions include a very important word – heart.

We will try to get to the heart of the matter to better understand the most important things about words and their stories. So take heart. Have no fear about learning new expressions. Besides, popular English words can be fun. There is no need for a heavy heart. Such feelings of sadness would only break my heart, or make me feel unhappy and hopeless.

Now, let us suppose you and I were speaking freely about something private. We would be having a heart to heart discussion. I might speak from the bottom of my heart, or say things honestly and truthfully. I might even open up my heart to you and tell a secret. I would speak with all my heart, or with great feeling.

When a person shares her feelings freely and openly like this, you might say she wears her heart on her sleeve, or on her clothing. Her emotions are not protected.

If we had an honest discussion, both of us would know that the other person’s heart is in the right place. For example, I would know that you are a kind-hearted and well-meaning person. And, if you are a very good person, I would even say that you have a heart of gold. However, you might have a change of heart based on what I tell you. Our discussion might cause you to change the way you feel about something.

But, let us suppose you get angry over what I tell you. Or worse, you feel no sympathy or understanding for me or my situation. If this happens, I might think that you have a heart of stone. And, if you say something to make me frightened or worried, my heart might stand still or skip a beat.

Yet, even though you may be angry, I would know that at heart, you are a kind person. In reality, you do care. And any argument between us would not cause me to lose heart or feel a sense of loss.

My heart goes out to anyone who loses a friend over an argument. It really is a sad situation, and I feel sympathy for the people involved.

I promise that what I have told you today is true – cross my heart.

I really wanted to play some music at the end of this feature. In fact, I had my heart set on it. So here it is, “Don’t Go Breaking my Heart” by Elton John.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

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Sailors seem -- to those of us on land -- to lead exciting, even mysterious lives. Many things are different at sea. Even the language is different.

Simple words like "right" and "left" are not the same. On a ship, "right" is "starboard." And "left" is "port."

Sailors also are responsible for many colorful English expressions.

One of these is deep-six. It means to hide something or put it where it will not be found. You can also deep-six,or reject a proposal.

One language expert says that deep six is the bottom of the ocean. "Deep," in this case, means deepest. The "six" in the expression comes from the six feet that make up a fathom -- which is a little less than two meters.

Sailors measure the depth of the water in fathoms. Thus, the deep six is the deepest fathom...the final six feet at the bottom of the ocean. A sailor who never wants to see something again will give it the deep-six. He will drop it from the ship to the ocean bottom.

You can deep-six something even if you are not a sailor. All you do is throw it away or put it where it will never be found. You might, for example, deep-six an unpleasant letter from a former friend.

Another expression linked to sailing is batten down the hatches. That is what sailors do to prepare their ship for a storm at sea.

Battens are thin pieces of wood. Hatches are the openings in the deck. Before a storm, sailors cover the hatches with waterproof material. Then they nail on battens to hold the hatch coverings firmly in place. This keeps rain and waves out of the ship.

Now, people use the expression to mean to prepare for dealing with any kind of trouble.

A news report, for example, might say that people in Washington were battening down the hatches for a big winter storm. Or a newspaper might report that "defense lawyers were 'battening down the hatches' for testimony by someone who observed the crime."

An old expression of the sailors that is still heard is to sail under false colors. Experts on language say the expression was born more than two hundred fifty years ago, when pirates sailed the seas, attacking and robbing trade ships.

Pirate ships often flew the flag of a friendly country as they sailed toward the ship they planned to rob. They sailed under false colors until they were close enough to attack. Then the pirates pulled down the false flag, and showed their true colors. They raised the pirate flag -- with its picture of a skull and crossed bones.

Today, a person, not a ship, is said to sail under false colors. Such a person appears to be something he is not. His purpose is to get something from you. If you are careful, you will soon see his true colors, and have nothing to do with him.

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This VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Marilyn Christiano. This is Warren Scheer.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Today we tell about the word "buff."

The word buff has several meanings. Buff is a light yellow color. Buff is also a soft cloth used to rub a surface until it looks bright and shiny.

Yet these meanings are old, and their history is not known. The meaning of buff that we do know about is one that describes a person. A buff is someone who has a strong, special interest in something. For example, someone who loves jazz music is a jazz buff. Someone who is deeply interested in the American Civil War is a Civil War buff.

This meaning of the word is known to be American. Its use started almost two-hundred years ago in New York City.

At that time, New York was a growing city. There were no huge tall buildings of steel and stone. Buildings then were made of wood and brick. Many were old and fires often broke out in them. The city did not have well-organized fire departments. So when the fire alarm bell rang, men near the sound of the fire bell dropped what they were doing and rushed out to fight the fire.

Later, fire companies were organized with men who were trained to fight fires. They were not paid to do this. They earned their money at other jobs, but dropped what they were doing when the fire bell rang.

In cold weather, many of these young volunteer firefighters wore coats made of the skin of buffalo to keep them warm and dry. Often, when the fire bell rang, other men in the city rushed to help put out the fire. They also wore coats of buffalo skin. In time, any man who rushed to fight a fire became known as a fire buff because of the buffalo coat he wore.

Time, however, has a way of bringing changes. Cities organized fire departments. Firemen became professionals. They are paid to do their job.

Yet, even today, we still have fire buffs who seem to appear at every fire in an area. Sometimes they prevent firemen from doing their jobs.

A leading New York newspaper published a story with the headline, "Fire Buffs Barred From Blaze." The story was about an order from New York's fire commissioner. He was angry. He told reporters that his firefighters were having trouble getting near the fire, because fire buffs who wanted to help were really getting in the way. So, he said, he did not want anyone but firefighters to go to a fire.

Fire buffs are still around, but the word has taken on a wider meaning. It includes all who have a deep interest in something or some activity. And so we can thank the American buffalo that once wandered the open plains for this meaning of the word buff.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I'm Warren Scheer.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself. But many of the expressions using water have unpleasant meanings.

The expression "to be in hot water" is one of them. It is a very old expression. "Hot water" was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle.

That no longer happens. But we still get in "hot water." When we are in "hot water," we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble -- serious or not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother, if he walks in the house with dirty shoes.

Being in "deep water" is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult position. Imagine a person who cannot swim being thrown in water over his head.

You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you do not have the ability to solve. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest in stocks without knowing anything about the stock market.

"To keep your head above water" is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.

"Water over the dam" is another expression about a past event. It is something that is finished. It cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water that has flowed over a dam cannot be brought back again.

When a friend is troubled by a mistake she has made, you might tell her to forget about it. You say it is water over the dam.

Another common expression, "to hold water," is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about. It probably comes from a way of testing the condition of a container. If it can hold water, it is strong and has no holes in it.

If your argument can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes. If it does not hold water, then it is weak and not worth debating.

"Throwing cold water" also is an expression that deals with ideas or proposals. It means to not like an idea. For example, you want to buy a new car because the old one has some problems. But your wife "throws cold water" on the idea, because she says a new car costs too much.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn Christiano. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A listener named Rita wants to learn about expressions with the word "hair." So we will tell a story.

Yesterday when I woke up, I looked in a mirror. I looked very neat and organized. Not a hair was out of place. But today when I woke up, I knew I was going to have a bad hair day. My hair was standing up in all the wrong places. I thought I would be unhappy all day and things would not go well. I work at home so I just hoped that my computer would work right and not have a bad hair day also.

An advertisement for the musical "Hair"

I prepared a meal for my children but they were behaving badly. I turned on the television so they would be quiet. I did not want them to be difficult or to get in my hair while I was working on the computer.

My children were making so much noise that I could not work. I was getting angry. In fact, I was ready to pull my hair out. I told them to please be quiet or I would punish them. But they knew I would not harm a hair on their heads.

I decided to make myself some strong coffee so I could work better. But my drink was so strong that it could put hair on your chest.

Finally, I got back to work. I was writing a proposal for a project. I knew that I was very close to finishing the proposal. Success was very close – within a hair's breadth. My supervisor called me to discuss the project. She wanted to argue about very small differences and unimportant details. But I told her not to split hairs.

Later, I got a telephone call from a friend whom I had not seen in a long time. In fact, I had not seen hide nor hair of him in months. So I was glad to know that he was all right.

I worked all day and finished my project. So I decided to celebrate, have some fun and let my hair down. I played some old recordings, and my children and I danced around the room. The recordings are from my favorite musical, a show called "Hair." It takes place during the nineteen sixties when many young people wore their hair very long.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find other WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, Words and Their Stories, a VOA Special English program about American expressions.

I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with some financial words and expressions used in business and the stock market.

Our first expression is "in the red." It is another way of saying that a business is losing money. In the past, numbers in the financial records of a company were written in red ink to show a loss.

A business magazine recently published a report about a television company. The report said the company was still in the red, but was able to cut its loss from the year before.

A profit by a business is written in black numbers. So a company that is "in the black" is making money. An international news service reported that a private health insurer in Australia announced it was "back in the black with its first profit in three years."

Another financial expression is "run on the bank." That is what happens when many people try to withdraw all their money from a bank. A "run on the bank" usually happens when people believe there is danger a bank may fail or close.

Newspaper reports about a banking crisis in Russia used that expression. They said the government acted because of fears that the crisis would cause a run on the banks. "When a run on the banks was starting, there was not much they could do," said a banking expert.

"Day trading" is a system that lets investors trade directly on an electronic market system. The system is known as NASDAQ, short for The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation. It was the first completely computerized stock market. It sells stocks of companies not listed on any stock exchange. Many high technology companies are listed on it.

Day trading companies provide a desk and a computer system to an investor who wants to trade. Individuals must provide fifty thousand dollars or more to the trading company to pay for the stocks they buy. Thousands of other investors do day trading from computers in their homes.

A day trader watches stock prices carefully. When he sees a stock rise in price, he uses the computer to buy shares of the stock. If the stock continues to rise in price in the next few minutes, the day trader sells the shares quickly to make a small profit. Then he looks for another stock to buy. If a stock goes down instead of up, he sells it and accepts the loss.

The idea is to make a small profit many times during the day. Day traders may buy and sell stocks hundreds of times each day.

Many day traders lose all their money in a week or so. Only about thirty percent succeed in earning enough from their efforts to continue day trading.

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This VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Frank Beardsley. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

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Computer technology has become a major part of people's lives. This technology has its own special words. One example is the word mouse. A computer mouse is not a small animal that lives in buildings and open fields. It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer. The mouse moves the pointer, or cursor, on the computer screen.

Computer expert Douglas Engelbart developed the idea for the mouse in the early nineteen-sixties. The first computer mouse was a carved block of wood with two metal wheels. It was called a mouse because it had a tail at one end. The tail was the wire that connected it to the computer.

Using a computer takes some training. People who are experts are sometimes called hackers. A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language. But the word hacker is also used to describe a person who tries to steal information from computer systems.

Another well known computer word is Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e. It is the name of a popular "search engine" for the Internet. People use the search engine to find information about almost any subject on the Internet. The people who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number. It is the number one followed by one-hundred zeros.

When you "Google" a subject, you can get a large amount of information about it. Some people like to Google their friends or themselves to see how many times their name appears on the Internet.

If you Google someone, you might find that person's name on a blog. A blog is the shortened name for a Web log. A blog is a personal Web page. It may contain stories, comments, pictures and links to other Web sites. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.

Blogs are not the same as spam. Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic mailbox. The name is based on a funny joke many years ago on a British television show, "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Some friends are at an eating place that only serves a processed meat product from the United States called SPAM. Every time the friends try to speak, another group of people starts singing the word SPAM very loudly. This interferes with the friends' discussion – just as unwanted sales messages interfere with communication over the Internet.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

Baseball is America’s national sport. So it is not unusual that many popular expressions come from baseball. But first, let me explain a little about the game.

Each baseball team has nine players. The pitcher of one team throws the ball to a batter from the other team. The batter attempts to hit the ball. If he misses, it is called a strike. If a batter gets three strikes, he loses his turn at bat and is called out. The batter also is out if he hits the ball in the air and an opposing player catches it. But if the batter hits the ball and it is not caught, the batter tries to run to one or more of the four bases on the field. The batter can run to all four bases if he hits the ball over the fence or out of the ballpark. Such a hit is called a home run.

Now, here are some common expressions from baseball. Someone who is on the ball is intelligent and able to do a good job. But a person who threw a curve ball did something unexpected. Someone who steps up to the plate is ready to do his or her job. A pinch hitter takes the place of someone else at a job or activity.

A person who strikes out or goes down swinging attempted something but failed. We also might tell the person that three strikes and you are out. But someone who hit a home run or hit it out of the park did something extremely well.

Sometimes I have to give information quickly, without time to think it over. Then I would say something right off the bat. If someone is doing an extremely good job and is very successful, you might say he or she is batting one thousand.

If I say I want to touch base with you, I will talk to you from time to time about something we plan to do. I might say I touched all the bases if I did what is necessary to complete a job or activity. And if I covered my bases I was well prepared. However, someone who is way off base did something wrong or maybe even dishonest or immoral. A person with strange ideas might be described as out in left field.

Let us say I want to sell my car but I do not know exactly how much it is worth. If someone asks me the price, I might give a ballpark figure or a ballpark estimate.

If someone offers me an amount that is close to my selling price, I might say the amount is in the ballpark. However, if I say we are not in the same ballpark, I mean we cannot agree because my ideas are too different from yours.

Finally, when a situation changes completely, we say that is a whole new ballgame.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Shelley Gollust. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we explain more popular proverbs. A proverb is a short, well known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Proverbs are popular around the world.

Many listeners have sent us their favorite proverbs. They give advice about how to live. We begin with two popular proverbs about staying healthy by eating good food: One is an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Another is you are what you eat.

Several proverbs about birds also give advice. You may have heard this one: The early bird catches the worm. This means a person who gets up early, or acts quickly, has the best chance of success.

Another famous proverb is a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This means you should not risk losing something you have by seeking something that is not guaranteed.

Here is another piece of advice: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. In other words, you should not think too much about some future event before it really happens.

Another proverb warns do not put all your eggs in one basket. This means you should not put all of your resources together in one place because you could risk losing everything at one time. Many Americans learned this the hard way by investing all their money in stock shares, which then lost value. Another proverb says a fool and his money are soon parted. This means someone who acts unwisely with money will lose it.

Here is more advice: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Also, never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

You might learn that haste makes waste if you do something too fast, resulting in mistakes. Most people would agree with this proverb: honesty is the best policy.

Yet another proverb advises us not to be concerned about something bad that you cannot change. It says there is no use crying over spilled milk.

Do you agree with the proverb that children should be seen and not heard? Maybe you have told your children that hard work never hurt anyone. But other people say that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. They believe it is not wise to spend all your time working and never having fun.

Finally, here is one of our favorite proverbs: People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. This means you should not criticize other people unless you are perfect yourself.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more proverbs and other WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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Editor's Note attached

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Every week at this time, the Voice of America tells about popular words and expressions used in the United States. Some of these words and expressions are old. Some are new. Together, they form the living speech of the American people.

Our story today is very old. It goes back about five-thousand years. It is about a sign that is used to represent some words.

We see this sign on drug stores and whenever we visit a doctor to get an order for medicine. It also appears on bottles of pills and other medicines.

The sign is formed by a line across the right foot of the letter "R." It represents the word "prescription." It has come to mean "take this medicine."

The sign has its beginnings five thousand years ago in Egypt. At that time, people prayed to Horus, the god of the Sun. It was said that when Horus was a child, he was attacked by Seth, the demon of evil.

The evil Seth put out the eye of the young Horus. The mother of Horus called for help. Her cry was answered by Thoth, the god of learning and magic. Thoth, with his wisdom and special powers, healed the eye of Horus. And the child was able to see again.

The ancient Egyptians used a drawing of the eye of Horus as a magic sign to protect themselves from disease, suffering and evil. They cut this sign in the stones they used for buildings. And it was painted on the papyrus rolls used for writing about medicine and doctors.

For thousands of years, the eye of Horus remained as a sign of the god's help to the suffering and sick.

Long after the fall of the ancient Egyptian civilization, doctors and alchemists in Europe continued the custom of showing a sign of the gods' help and protection. But over the years, the sign changed from the eye of Horus to the sign for Jupiter, the chief god of the Romans. Jupiter's sign looked much like the printed number "four."

That sign changed, also. Today, it is the easily-recognized capital "R" with a line across its foot.

The sign no longer offers heavenly assistance to the sick. It now means "take this medicine."

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This VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrator was Maurice Joyce. I'm Warren Sheer.

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Editor's Note: This program was first broadcast many years ago. A comment posted below points out that there are two stories of where the term Rx may have come from. MedicineNet.com explains it this way:

The symbol "Rx" is usually said to stand for the Latin word "recipe" meaning "to take." It is customarily part of the superscription (heading) of a prescription.

Another explanation for the origin of Rx is that it was derived from the astrological sign for Jupiter which was once placed on prescriptions to invoke that god's blessing on the drug to help the patient recover.

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Correction attached

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we tell about the expression, "apple pie order." It means in perfect order, very well organized.

Nobody is sure where and when the expression apple pie order began. Some say that Scottish and English writers used the expression a long time ago. Others say it first was used in the northeastern American states known as New England.

The housewives of New England cut their apples in even slices. Then they filled pie pans with them in an organized way, row upon row. As one writer said, the women of New England loved to have everything in its place. This perhaps explains why it generally is believed that the expression apple-pie order began in New England.

Another old expression describes the opposite condition – wild disorder. That expression is apple of discord. It comes from ancient mythology.

The myth says that all the gods and goddesses were sitting around the table to celebrate the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. One of the goddesses, Discord, was a troublemaker. She threw a golden apple on the table to be given as a prize to the most beautiful goddess.

It was not an easy decision to make. How could they choose among Juno, Minerva and Venus. Paris was given the task of deciding. He decided to give the golden apple to Venus. Juno and Minerva were very angry and threatened him. This, the myth says, began the long Trojan war.

At one time, the tomato was called a love apple. That was a mistake. This is how the mistake happened.

In the sixteenth century, Spain imported the tomato from South America after Spanish explorers had landed there. Spain then exported the tomato to Morocco. Italian traders carried it on to Italy. The Italian name for the tomato was pomo di Moro – apple of the Moors.

When French growers imported it from Italy, they thought di Moro meant d'amour, the French word for love. And so pomo di Moro became the apple of love.

People believe many things about the apple. One belief is that it has great powers of keeping people healthy. A very common expression is "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Another belief is based on fact. The expression is "One rotten apple spoils the barrel." When an apple begins to go bad, it ruins all the other apples around it in the container. The expression has come to mean that one bad person in a group can cause everyone to act bad.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I'm Warren Scheer.

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Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Discord as a Greek god; she was a goddess.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Every week at this time, we tell about popular American words and expressions. Some of these are very old. Some are new. Together, they form the living speech of the American people.

Today we tell about the expression "down to earth." Down to earth means being open and honest. It is easy to deal with someone who is down to earth.

A person who is down to earth is a pleasure to find. He or she accepts other people as equals. A down to earth person is the opposite of someone who acts important or proud.

Down to earth people could be important members of society. But they do not consider themselves to be better than others who are less important. They do not let their importance "go to their heads." Someone who lets something go to his head feels he is better than others. He has a "big head."

A person who is filled with his own importance and pride is said to have "his nose in the air." Often the person who has a big head and his nose in the air has no reason to feel better than others. He surely is the opposite of someone who is down to earth.

Americans use another expression that is similar in some ways to down to earth. The expression is "both feet on the ground." Some one with both feet on the ground is a person with a good understanding of reality. She has what is called "common sense." She may have dreams. But she does not allow them to block her understanding of what is real.

The opposite kind of person is one who has his "head in the clouds." Someone with his head in the clouds is a person whose mind is not on what is happening in real life. Such a person may be called a "daydreamer."

Sometimes a person with his head in the clouds can be brought back to reality. Sharp words from a teacher, for example, can usually get a daydreaming student to put both feet on the ground.

The person who is down to earth usually has both feet on the ground. But the opposite is not always true. Someone with both feet on the ground may not be as open and easy to deal with as someone who is down to earth.

When we have both our feet firmly on the ground, and when we are down to earth we do not have our noses in the air. We act honestly and openly to others. Our lives are like the ground below us – solid and strong.

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This Special English program was written by David Jarmul. I'm Warren Scheer. Listen again next week at this time for another WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program on the Voice of America.

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Correction attached

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A proverb is a short, well known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Many proverbs give advice about the best way to live.

Recently, we presented a program about proverbs. We asked our listeners to send us their favorite proverbs. A short time later, we received suggestions from around the world. We heard from listeners in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

The top proverb among these listeners is this one: "Where there is a will, there is a way." This means that you can rise above your problems if you have a goal and work very hard.

Some listeners liked another proverb: "Strike while the iron is hot." This means it is best to take action quickly and at the right time. Another favorite proverb was, "God helps those who help themselves."

Xu Da-ju from China wrote that his country has thousands of proverbs. Several of them are also used in the United States. One example is "Birds of a feather flock together." This means that people who are alike often become friends or spend time together.

Another proverb is "Blood is thicker than water." This means family ties are stronger than other relationships. A similar proverb states "Charity begins at home." A person should help his family or close friends before helping others.

Alina from China sent us this proverb: "He who would climb a ladder must begin at the bottom." That is good advice when working around your home or looking for a job.

Antonio Jose from Brazil says his favorite proverb is "Tell me who walks with you, and I'll tell you who you are." Didier Vermeulen of France sent us this one: "It does not matter the speed you go. The most important thing is to never stop."

Wafaa from Egypt says her favorite proverb is, "Think twice, act wise." She also says she is making an effort to use this saying in her life.

Another favorite proverb among our listeners is "Practice makes perfect." This means you will become good at something if you keep doing it. Another popular proverb is: "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

Najeeb from Afghanistan sent us this proverb: "If you risk nothing, then you risk everything."

And, here is the favorite proverb of Marius Meledje in Ivory Coast: "Your defeat now is your victory in the future." He says it means you can learn from your mistakes. This will help you do better when facing similar situations in the future.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. We will present more programs about proverbs in the future. And you can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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Correction: An earlier version of this page incorrectly used masculine pronouns for a listener in Egypt named Wafaa; Wafaa is a female name.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

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Some of the most exciting information comes by way of the grapevine.

That is so because reports received through the grapevine are supposed to be secret. The information is all hush hush. It is whispered into your ear with the understanding that you will not pass it on to others.

You feel honored and excited. You are one of the special few to get this information. You cannot wait. You must quickly find other ears to pour the information into. And so, the information - secret as it is – begins to spread. Nobody knows how far.

The expression by the grapevine is more than one hundred years old.

The American inventor, Samuel F. Morse, is largely responsible for the birth of the expression. Among others, he experimented with the idea of telegraphy – sending messages over a wire by electricity. When Morse finally completed his telegraphic instrument, he went before Congress to show that it worked. He sent a message over a wire from Washington to Baltimore. The message was: “What hath God wrought?” This was on May twenty-fourth, eighteen forty-four.

Quickly, companies began to build telegraph lines from one place to another. Men everywhere seemed to be putting up poles with strings of wire for carrying telegraphic messages. The workmanship was poor. And the wires were not put up straight.

Some of the results looked strange. People said they looked like a grapevine. A large number of the telegraph lines were going in all directions, as crooked as the vines that grapes grow on. So was born the expression, by the grapevine.

Some writers believe that the phrase would soon have disappeared were it not for the American Civil War.

Soon after the war began in eighteen sixty-one, military commanders started to send battlefield reports by telegraph. People began hearing the phrase by the grapevine to describe false as well as true reports from the battlefield. It was like a game. Was it true? Who says so?

Now, as in those far-off Civil War days, getting information by the grapevine remains something of a game. A friend brings you a bit of strange news. “No,” you say, “it just can’t be true! Who told you?” Comes the answer, “I got it by the grapevine.”

You really cannot know how much – if any – of the information that comes to you by the grapevine is true or false. Still, in the words of an old American saying, the person who keeps pulling the grapevine shakes down at least a few grapes.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories. I’m Warren Scheer.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with some expressions using the word heart.

People believed for a long time that the heart was the center of a person's emotions. That is why the word heart is used in so many expressions about emotional situations.

One such expression is to "lose your heart" to someone. When that happens, you have fallen in love. But if the person who "won your heart" does not love you, then you are sure to have a "broken heart." In your pain and sadness, you may decide that the person you loved is "hard-hearted," and in fact, has a "heart of stone."

You may decide to "pour out your heart" to a friend. Telling someone about your personal problems can often make you feel better.

If your friend does not seem to understand how painful your broken heart is, you may ask her to "have a heart." You are asking your friend to show some sympathy for your situation. Your friend "has her heart in the right place" if she says she is sorry, and shows great concern for how you feel.

Your friend may, however, warn you "not to wear your heart on your sleeve." In other words, do not let everyone see how lovesick you are. When your heart is on your sleeve you are showing your deepest emotions.

If your friend says, "my heart bleeds for you," she means the opposite. She is a cold-hearted person who does not really care about your situation.

In the ever-popular motion picture, The Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man seeks a heart. He wanted to feel the emotion of love, and was seeking help from the powerful Wizard of Oz to find a heart.

The cowardly lion, in the same movie, did have a heart. But he lacked courage and wanted to ask the Wizard of Oz to give him some. You could say that the cowardly lion was "chicken-hearted." That is another way of describing someone who is not very brave. A chicken is not noted for its bravery. Thus, someone who is chicken-hearted does not have much courage.

When you are frightened or concerned, your "heart is in your mouth." You might say, for example, that your heart was in your mouth when you asked a bank to lend you some money to pay for a new house.

If that bank says no to you, do not "lose heart." Be "strong-hearted." Sit down with the banker and have a "heart to heart" talk. Be open and honest about your situation. The bank may have a "change of heart." It may agree to lend you the money. Then you could stop worrying and "put your heart at rest."

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn Christiano. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

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Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we tell about two words that are close in meaning. One is to buffalo. The other is to bulldoze. Both deal with winning by tricking or frightening someone.

Long before the first Europeans arrived in the New World, a strange looking animal lived on the rich grasses of the western plains. He looked like some kind of water buffalo. But he had a big hump on his back like a camel. And he had hair like a lion. He later was called a bison.

In eighteen fifty, estimates say twenty million buffalo lived on the open plains areas of the west. They were powerful creatures that ran with great speed. American Indians hunted them for food and clothing. As white settlers moved west, they began to hunt the animal for skins to sell in eastern markets.

The American buffalo could run at the speed of almost seventy-five kilometers an hour. It was not easy to get close enough to them to shoot.

Sometimes the hunters were completely unsuccessful in killing any of the animals. They were "buffaloed" by these powerful, speedy creatures who were so hard to control. The expression "to buffalo" soon became part of the speech of the American west. It meant to make someone helpless, to trick them. In the early nineteen hundreds, a story about attacks on white settlers moving into Indian territory explained, "The Sioux had the wagon-train surrounded and the soldiers buffaloed."

The meaning is almost the same today. When someone has you buffaloed, he has tricked or fooled you.

The expression "to bulldoze" also means to make someone helpless, usually by using power or threatening violence. The expression was first used in the southern part of the United States to describe the use of force to win an election. A bulldozer was a person who was not liked, someone who threatened other people.

The term today most often is used to describe a powerful machine designed to clear away trees and other big objects. A bulldozer moves slowly but powerfully across the land. Nothing much can stop it.

Americans still use the expression "to bulldoze" but mainly in political situations. It is used sometimes to describe a political move that leads to an unexpected win. For example, a newspaper might comment that a bill that was not popular passed in Congress because the supporters bulldozed the opposition. The force of the supporters' arguments, or perhaps some legislative tricks, buffaloed the opponents.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I'm Warren Scheer.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

Today’s word is belittle. It was first used by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.

Many years ago, a French naturalist, the Count de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics did not like them. Some critics said, “Count Buffon is more of a poet than a scientist.”

Thomas Jefferson did not like what the Count had said about the natural wonders of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that the Count had gone out of his way to speak of natural wonders in America as if they were unimportant.

This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He, too, was a naturalist, as well as a farmer, inventor, historian, writer and politician. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

In seventeen eighty-eight, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Count de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word – belittle. He said, “The Count de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic.”

Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in his English language dictionary in eighteen-oh-six. ‘Belittle – to make small, unimportant.’

Americans had already accepted Jefferson’s word and started to use it. In seventeen ninety-seven, the Independent Chronicle newspaper used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “He is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”

In eighteen forty-four, the Republican Sentinel of Virginia wrote this about the opposition party: “The Whigs may attempt to belittle our candidates … that is a favorite game of theirs.”

In eighteen seventy-two, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle has no chance of becoming English. And as more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it, the sooner it is forgotten, the better.”

This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used, not only in the United States and England, but in other countries where the English language is spoken. It seems that efforts to belittle the word did not stop people from using it.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories. I’m Warren Scheer.

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Different people have different ways of saying things – their own special expressions. Each week we tell about some popular American expressions.

The bag is one of the most simple and useful things in the world. It is a container made of paper or cloth. It has given the world many strange expressions that are not very simple. Some of them are used in the United States today.

One is bagman. It describes a go-between. The go-between sees to it that money is passed – often illegally – from one person to another.

Another widely-used expression is to let the cat out of the bag. It is used when someone tells something that was supposed to be secret. No one can explain how the cat got into the bag. But there is an old story about it.

Long ago tradesmen sold things in large cloth bags. One day a woman asked for a pig. The tradesman held up a cloth bag with something moving inside it. He said it was a live pig. The woman asked to see it. When the dishonest tradesman opened the bag, out jumped a cat – not a pig. The tradesman's secret was out. He was trying to trick her. And now everybody knew it.

The phrase to be left holding the bag is as widely used as the expression to let the cat out of the bag.

This expression makes the person left holding the bag responsible for an action, often a crime or misdeed. That person is the one who is punished. The others involve in the act escape.

Where the expression came from is not clear. Some say that General George Washington used it during the American Revolutionary War.

One of Washington's officers, Royall Taylor, used the expression in a play about Daniel Shay's rebellion. The play was in seventeen eighty-seven, after Taylor helped to put down Shay's rebellion.

Shays led a thousand war veterans in an attack on a federal building in Springfield, Massachusetts. Guns were in the building. Some of the protesters were farmers who had no money to buy seed. Some had been put in prison for not paying their debts. They were men who fought one war against the king of England, and were now prepared to fight against their own government. Most of the rebels were captured. Shays and some of the officers escaped.

In his play, Taylor describes Shays as disappearing, giving others "the bag to hold."

A bag is useful in many ways. Just be careful not to let the cat out of the bag, or someone may leave you holding the bag.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. This is Bob Doughty.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

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American English is full of colorful expressions. One such expression is to touch all bases. It comes from the sport of baseball.

There are four bases in baseball -- first, second and third. The fourth is home plate. Together, the bases form a diamond shape. When a baseball player hits the ball, he must run to each base -- in order -- and touch it with his foot. It is the only way to score a point. If the player hits the ball and fails to touch all the bases, the point will not be counted.

The importance of touching all the bases was shown at the start of the nineteen seventy-four baseball season.

Hank Aaron was a player with the Atlanta Braves team. He was seeking the record for hitting the most home runs. A home run is a ball that is hit over the wall. Aaron needed just one home run to equal the record held by Babe Ruth, the greatest hitter in baseball history. Aaron got that home run the very first time he had a chance to hit the ball. He sent the ball over the wall that surrounded the playing field. That gave him seven hundred and fourteen home runs -- the same as Babe Ruth.

After that day, baseball fans held their breath every time it was Hank Aaron's turn to hit. When would he hit home run number seven hundred and fifteen?

The wait was not long. In the second week of the season, Aaron again hit the ball over the wall. He had beaten Babe Ruth's record. But first, he had to run around the four bases. The other players on his team watched carefully to make sure he touched each one. If he did not, the home run would not have counted. There would have been no new record.

So, to touch all bases means to do what is necessary to complete an activity.

The expression is used in business and politics. No business deal or political campaign is really complete until you discuss all the issues involved. Or, as it is said, until you touch all bases.

Even professional diplomats use this expression, as well as others that come from baseball.

A diplomat in reporting on negotiations with diplomats from different countries may say they "touched all bases" during many hours of talks. This means they explored all issues involved in the situation. Perhaps they did this after expressing hope that they could play ball with each other, meaning that they could learn to cooperate.

Sports reporters write about fast-moving, lively events. They must develop a way of writing that goes straight to the point. Their duty is to give the reader a complete picture of the event in as few words as possible. They must touch all bases as quickly as they can.

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This VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Mike Pitts. This is Bob Doughty.

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Now, the Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Circus is a word with a long, interesting history. It is a Latin word that means "ring" or "circle."

One of the most famous places in ancient Rome was the Circus Maximus. It was a kind of round stadium with rows of seats all around the inside of it. Roman citizens gathered there to watch races, games and violent, bloody fights.

The modern circus developed in the nineteenth century. It was a travelling show of animals and people working under a large tent, later known as the Big Top.

Travelling circuses were popular in the United States and Britain before eighteen thirty. A circus moved from town to town, putting on shows with trained animals, acrobats doing difficult tricks, and funny, colorful clowns.

Circuses still travel from place to place. And they still have trained animal acts, acrobats and clowns.

Today's circuses usually have three rings. Something different takes place in each of the three rings at the same time. The heads of people watching a circus turn back and forth as they try to see every exciting act in each ring.

The circus has been popular for so long that it is not surprising that words and expressions connected with it are part of everyday speech.

For example, the word circus is used to describe any noisy place with a lot of activities going on.

A teacher may use it when she walks into a room where the students are playing and talking, instead of studying. She might say, "This place is a circus. Calm down and get your work done." And if the room is really noisy, she may say it is a three ring circus.

Clowns are a very special part of the circus. They look funny with their big red noses, painted faces and clothes that are much too large for them. Everyone at a circus loves to watch the clowns do tricks on each other. Clowns have a real purpose: to make people laugh. They always succeed.

We use the expression to clown around when we talk about someone playing tricks and making jokes. Usually, a person is clowning around if he is being funny when he should be serious. In that case, you may get angry and say, "Stop clowning around. This is a serious situation."

The most celebrated American circus in the eighteen hundreds was P. T. Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth." Barnum's circus had many new acts. He began finding and training unusual animals, not just dogs and horses.

One of the most popular of Barnum's animals was a huge elephant named Jumbo. Jumbo was very large, much larger than other elephants. Soon, anything that was the largest of its kind was called jumbo.

Today, there are jumbo drinks, jumbo boxes of soap, and jumbo sales of cars.

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This Special English WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. This is Bob Doughty.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

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Baloney is a kind of sausage that many Americans eat often. The word also has another meaning in English. It is used to describe something – usually something someone says – that is false or wrong or foolish.

Baloney sausage comes from the name of the Italian city, Bologna. The city is famous for its sausage, a mixture of smoked, spiced meat from cows and pigs. But, boloney sausage does not taste the same as beef or pork alone.

Some language experts think this different taste is responsible for the birth of the expression baloney. Baloney is an idea or statement that is nothing like the truth…in the same way that baloney sausage tastes nothing like the meat that is used to make it.

Baloney is a word often used by politicians to describe the ideas of their opponents.

The expression has been used for years. Fifty years ago, a former governor of New York state, Alfred Smith, criticized some claims by President Franklin Roosevelt about the successes of the Roosevelt administration. Smith said, “No matter how thin you slice it, it is still baloney.”

A similar word has almost the same meaning as baloney. It even sounds almost the same. The word is blarney. It began in Ireland about sixteen hundred.

The lord of Blarney castle, near Cork, agreed to surrender the castle to British troops. But he kept making excuses for postponing the surrender. And, he made them sound like very good excuses, “this is just more of the same blarney.”

The Irish castle now is famous for its Blarney stone. Kissing the stone is thought to give a person special powers of speech. One who has kissed the Blarney stone, so the story goes, can speak words of praise so smoothly and sweetly that you believe them, even when you know they are false.

A former Roman Catholic bishop of New York City, Fulton Sheen, once explained, “Baloney is praise so thick it cannot be true. And blarney is praise so thin we like it.”

Another expression is pulling the wool over someone’s eyes. It means to make someone believe something that is not true. The expression goes back to the days when men wore false hair, or wigs, similar to those worn by judges today in British courts.

The word wool is a popular joking word for hair. If you pulled a man’s wig over his eyes, he could not see what was happening. Today, when you pull the wool over someone’s eyes, he cannot see the truth.

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This VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Marilyn Christiano. I’m Warren Scheer.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we talk about proverbs. A proverb is a short, well known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Proverbs are found in most cultures and are often very old.

In American history, Benjamin Franklin was famous for his proverbs. Franklin lived in the seventeen hundreds. He was a leader of the American Revolution against English rule. He was also a scientist, inventor and writer.

For many years, Franklin published a book called "Poor Richard's Almanac." He included many proverbs that he had heard or created. Some of them are still used today. Like this one: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Franklin is also remembered for other proverbs like, "A penny saved is a penny earned." This means that money should not be wasted.

Here are other examples of proverbs that Americans use. The first ones are about love. Some people say, "All is fair in love and war." They mean that anything you do in a relationship or in battle is acceptable.

Another proverb about love is, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." This means you love someone even more when he or she is far away. But other people say, "Out of sight, out of mind." You may not even think about that person when he or she is not with you. Which of these proverbs do you think is most true?

Another proverb says "Love is blind." In other words, when you are in love with someone, you may refuse to see anything bad about that person.

Here is another popular saying about love: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Some people believe that a woman can win a man's love if she prepares his favorite foods.

Some people are only interested in having a relationship with someone who is very good-looking. You might tell them that "Beauty is only skin deep." Your girlfriend may be lovely to look at, but she may also have some bad qualities. Or the opposite may be true. Your boyfriend is a wonderful person, but not good-looking. So what a person looks like is not really important.

Another proverb is true in love and war or other situations: "Actions speak louder than words." It means that what you do is more important than what you say.

Sadly, we have no more time for this program. So we must say, "All good things must come to an end."

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein. Tell us about your favorite proverb. You can send an e-mail to special@voanews.com. Include your name and where you live. And you can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

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Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

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Making choices is necessary, but not always easy. Many of our expressions tell about this difficulty.

One of these expressions is Hobson’s choice. It often is used to describe a difficult choice. But that is not what it really means. Its real meaning is to have no choice at all.

The Hobson in the expression was Thomas Hobson. Mister Hobson owned a stable of horses in Cambridge, England.

Mister Hobson often rented horses to the students at Cambridge University. But, he did not really trust them to take good care of the horses. So, he had a rule that prevented the students from riding his best horses. They could take the horse that was nearest the stable door. Or, they could not take any horse at all.

Thus, a Hobson’s choice was really no choice.

Another expression for having no real choice is between a rock and a hard place. It is often used to describe a difficult situation with few choices, none of them good.

For example, your boss may ask you to work late. But you have plans to go to a movie with your girlfriend. If you refuse to work, your boss gets angry. But if you do not go to the movies with your girlfriend, she gets angry. So what do you do? You are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Another expression, between the devil and the deep blue sea, also gives you a choice between two equally dangerous things.

Its meaning seems clear. You can choose the devil and his burning fires of hell. Or, you can choose to drown in the sea. Some word experts say the expression comes from the days of wooden ships.

The devil is a word for a seam between two pieces of wood along the water-line of a ship. If the seam or crack between the two pieces of wood begins to leak, then a sailor must fix it. The sailor ordered to make the repairs was in a dangerous situation. He was hanging over the side of the ship, working between the devil and the deep blue sea.

There is still another expression that describes a situation with only bad choices, being on the horns of a dilemma.

The dictionary says a dilemma is a situation in which you must make a decision about two equally balanced choices. When your dilemma has horns, a choice becomes impossible. When you are on the horns of a dilemma, no matter which horn you choose, something bad will happen.

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This VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stores, was written by Marilyn Christiano. Maurice Joyce was the narrator. I’m Shirley Griffith.

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