The American Experience Reflected in Idioms

This is an introduction to our national experience through the distinctively American catchphrases coined to describe them. In this course, we will explore American idioms in roughly chronological order, beginning with what is most likely the first American idiom, “pulling up stakes,” moving through the now-forgotten origins of expressions such as “ballin’ the jack” (think railroads), and concluding with such twentieth-century oddities as “the bee’s knees” and “disco nap” (think partying).

Ron Palumbo is a retired teacher and social worker. Palumbo has previously offered courses on Nativism in American History and the U.S. in WWI.

$29 for Creative Retirement members.