Volume LIV

I. Running amok👹

When someone says they’re “running amok,” you picture chaos. Maybe a toddler with a Sharpie.

But the phrase comes from the Malay word amuk. Portuguese traders in the 1500s described warriors who’d snap, charging through villages in a dissociative trance, cutting down anyone in their path. Observers couldn’t agree if it was madness or something the culture had a name for but it kept on happening.

Like most phrases, its current meaning carries less rigor. Now you simply drop it when your homie takes his filter off in the group chat.

II. Put Teeth in It 🦷

This one started picking up steam in the late 19th century. The British used it to describe something that lacked power. Something with no real consequences behind it.

The British talking about teeth… ironic, innit.

Over time, it became shorthand for empty threats and soft leadership. The difference between saying it… and enforcing it.

Think of a parent starting the “count to three”. Or the High School Athletic director who turns a blind eye to the GPA requirement when the 2,000 yard running back falls below a 2.0.

III. Blowing the popsicle stand 🍦

By the early 1900s, “blow” had picked up slang meaning to leave suddenly or take off fast. You’d hear it from rebellious youth with lines like, “It’s getting late, let’s blow,” or “The cops are coming — blow!” The word carried urgency, a touch of bite.

So when someone says, “Let’s blow this popsicle stand,” it’s a more playful spin on that same impulse.

The “popsicle stand” isn’t tied to any specific historical event — no legendary popsicle protest, no military code. It works because it makes the place sound a little lame: think a melting roadside stand instead of somewhere actually worth your time.

Now, it can turn an ordinary departure into a line with some pizzazz. If Irish goodbye-ing is slipping out unnoticed, blowing the popsicle stand is declaring your exit on the way out the door.

Keep on sending on. Forward to a friend.