John Culbert

The vernacular hive mind sometimes hits on a phrase that can’t be improved, an idiom for the ages. Once uttered, the phrase is indispensable; once heard, ubiquitous. This popular idiom is to spoken language what the mot juste is to an exacting writer: the right word in the right place, perfectly chosen yet seemingly imposing itself of its own accord, as if dictated by language alone.

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