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Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of "put all your eggs in one basket" — and it does not start on a farm. The oldest record in English is from 1662, in Giovanni Torriano's The Second Alphabet of Proverbial Phrases. Torriano was an Italian language teacher in London compiling Italian proverbs for English readers, and his entry reads: "to put all one's…
The Underdog NFL Show returns as Chris Horwedel and Mario Hines break down NFL Week 8, major trades ahead of the November 10 deadline, the Philadelphia Eagles' disastrous season and the upcoming NFL Draft. The biggest story is a wave of blockbuster NFL trades. Chicago acquires All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from Tennessee for two first-round picks, San Francisco brings back DeForest…
2 days ago · 55:58
Chris Horwedel’s Regression or Reality Week Six on The Underdog NFL Show examines 10 strange early NFL season trends to decide which numbers are real and which are ready to regress. He looks at the Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson, Kenneth Walker’s touchdown pace in Kansas City, and Drake Maye’s turnaround from turnover issues to a hot touchdown streak. The episode also digs into the Los…
1 wk ago · 25:29
On this episode of Appraise The Phrase: Origins of Everyday Expressions... Six dictionaries have no definition for "knocking on the devil's door." We found out why — and then we found the actual door. Where does "knocking on the devil's door" come from, and what does it actually mean? Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, Oxford, Collins, dictionary.com and TheFreeDictionary all come up empty — the first…
1 wk ago · 1:32:49
The Underdog NFL Show turns to Regression or Reality with the Minnesota Vikings, Drake Maye, and Jared Goff, asking what is real and what is just a hot start. Chris Horwedel and Mario Hines also go game by game through the Week 6 NFL schedule and give their thoughts and predictions for each contest. The episode then takes a brief detour to the movie Digger, starring Tom Cruise, as the hosts…
2 wks ago · 39:06
The man who coined this phrase had already been pilloried and imprisoned for writing satire people took literally. So the next time he went after Parliament, he built himself an escape hatch. On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of “if the shoe fits.” It starts in 1705 with Daniel Defoe — printed in London under the…
2 wks ago · 1:04:10
Chris Horwedel and Mario Hines open with Lane Johnson’s retirement, Cam Jurgens’ trade and the Eagles’ rapidly changing offense. “Regression or Reality” returns with 10 Week 4 trends, including Minnesota’s strange 4-0 start, Detroit’s defensive collapse and Brock Purdy’s surge. The second half previews the full Week 5 slate with injuries, quarterback questions and lines from oddsmakers. The show…
3 wks ago · 1:10:35
The first person to say “against the grain” was lying. Not figuratively. He was coaching other people to lie, and the phrase was the lie. On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty are joined by Kayla, founder of Kinara Bookstore in Tulsa, to unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of “go against the grain.” It debuts in Shakespeare's Coriolanus around 1607, in…
3 wks ago · 1:19:03
Chris Horwedel and Mario Hines debut “Regression or Reality?”, examining 10 of the NFL’s strangest three-week trends before turning to the full Week 4 slate. They cover every matchup, major quarterback story, injuries, and the latest lines. The show closes with Sunday and Monday night games and a quick ticket-shopping detour. 0:13 Opening — Phillies-Braves distraction and the setup for a new…
1 mo ago · 48:25
Everybody thinks medieval pubs had cups with whistles baked into them. You blew the whistle, you got a refill. It's a great story and somebody made it up. On this episode, Mario and Twenty are joined by Myron to trace the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of "wet my whistle." The whistle was never an object. It was your throat; a usage running through Beaumont and Fletcher, where…
1 mo ago · 1:10:45
The Underdog NFL Show previews the full NFL Week 3 slate as Chris Horwedel and Mario Hines work through every matchup, major injuries and several early-season questions. Jaxson Dart’s season-ending knee injury, Detroit’s defense, and Philadelphia’s offensive-line problems are major themes. The episode also touches on Zach Ertz, MLB labor, and Justin Verlander before closing with Eagles-Bears.…
1 mo ago · 1:04:19
On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty trace the origin of "in the nick of time" and explains how it started out as pudding time. It starts in 1546 with John Heywood's book of proverbs, where arriving "in pudding time" meant showing up right as dinner started — because in the 16th century, pudding was savory, closer to sausage than dessert, and it was served first. Then pudding…
1 mo ago · 1:01:31
