Volume XX

I. A Bee in Your Bonnet 🐝

This old Scottish phrase is a staple of my grandma’s generation.

Back in the day, bonnets were everyday attire — like those Lululemon headbands every girl wore in middle school. Now picture a bee trapped inside, buzzing up a storm. Irritating. Impossible to ignore.

If my grandma said someone had a bee in their bonnet, she meant they couldn’t let something go. The neighbor’s overgrown lawn. The restaurant’s wallpaper. The price of produce. Once it’s in there, it’s buzzing—and good luck getting it out.

II. Couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. 🐄

Anyone who’s driven through America’s heartland knows the picturesque red barn that defines the Midwest landscape. The long wall, known as the broad side, serves as the basis for the old saying.

The phrase gained traction in the 18th century during marksmanship training, where soldiers would rib each other for terrible aim.

These days, you’re just as likely to hear it on the golf course. Like when TWS co-founder Charles Lieberman tried his hand at golf in 2021 and couldn’t find a fairway off the tee. That scrappy ’90s Big Bertha driver couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn if it tried.

III. Saved by the bell ⏰

In the 1700s, people were terrified of being buried alive, so safety coffins were invented with strings attached to bells above ground. That way, if you woke up six feet under, you could tug the string and pray someone was on graveyard shift.

At least that’s what old folklore says.

Now it just means a last-second rescue. We all had the middle school moment of the bell sounding as you’re walking up to present that half baked project you know needs another nights worth of polish.

Keep on sending on. Forward to a friend.