Pairs #17

Dungeons & Dragons. A fantasy tabletop role-playing game.

Nip and tuck. 1. Closely contested or very near to failing or ending. 2. Slang for a rhytidectomy, commonly known as a facelift.

Hem and haw. To mumble and procrastinate in one's speech, especially with a reply to a hard question or with voicing a decision on a topical matter; to evade a question, giving vague answers; to equivocate or temporize.

Ben & Jerry’s. A US company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet.

Hearts and minds. Private feelings and emotions. To “win hearts and minds” is to persuade, or to at least minimize resistance.

Bench and bar. Judges and lawyers in aggregate.

AT & T. A US multinational telecommunications holding company.

Flint and steel. A method of fire starting requiring a flint (or similar rock) and a piece of carbon steel.

Cliques and clans. Friends and relatives.

Pins and needles. A common type of paresthesia (abnormal skin sensation). The idiomatic phrase on pins and needles means “feeling sharp anticipation or anxiety; in a state of suspense.”

Flora and fauna. Plants and animals of a given locale, in a given time frame, or both.

Weed and feed. A preparation that acts as both an herbicide (to kill weeds) and a fertilizer (usually for lawns).

Milk and cookies. At one time, a typical after-school snack. (as Milk and Cookies) A song from Melanie Martinez’s 2015 album Cry Baby. (as Milk ‘N’ Cookies) A US power pop band (1973-1977, 2005-2008).

Ticks and chiggers. Two critters to avoid in warmer weather.

Clean and tidy. Clean and organized.

Rise and shine. (idiomatic, imperative) Used to wish someone happiness upon waking up.

Duck and cover. An alleged method of personal protection against the affects of a nuclear explosion. (as Duck and Cover) A 1952 US Federal Civil Defense Administration film distributed broadly to US schools in which the animated Bert the Turtle teaches the children in his audience how to duck and cover if they see the flash of an atomic bomb.

Time and tide. A shortening of the maxim “Time and tide wait/tarry/stay for no man,” meaning that opportunities will not wait; action should be undertaken without delay.

Pickles and ice cream. Shorthand for pregnancy cravings, generally.

Rock and roll. (or rock & roll, rock-n-roll, rock 'n' roll, rock 'n roll, rock n' roll) A genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Arm & Hammer. A US brand of baking soda-based consumer products.

Lost and Found. (US) An office in a public building or area where people can go to retrieve lost articles that may have been found by others.

Shake ‘N Bake. A brand of seasoned bread crumb coating for meat and vegetables, marketed as a healthier alternative to frying (since 1965).

Weep and wail. Cockney rhyming slang for “tale,” used to refer to a fanciful hard luck story intended to elicit sympathy.