Mood ring colors are supposed to reflect changes in your emotional state, but the ring is actually reacting to temperature, not reading your feelings directly. The liquid crystals inside the ring change color as the temperature of your finger changes. Because stress, relaxation, activity, and circulation can affect skin temperature, people began associating different colors…
“Salt of the earth” describes someone who is honest, dependable, humble, hardworking, and genuinely good. If someone calls you the salt of the earth, they are usually paying you a strong compliment. They mean you are the kind of person others can trust—someone practical, sincere, and valuable without needing attention or praise. The expression has…
In texting, “…” usually represents a pause, hesitation, unfinished thought, awkward silence, or something left unsaid. Depending on the conversation, it can sound thoughtful, uncertain, disappointed, annoyed, suspicious, or even passive-aggressive. Three dots are called an ellipsis, and their meaning depends heavily on what comes before them and who is sending the message. For example,…
“As above, so below” means that patterns found on one level of existence may be reflected on another. In its traditional Hermetic context, the phrase expresses a relationship between the greater universe and the smaller human world—the macrocosm and the microcosm. In modern spirituality, people often broaden it to mean that your inner world can…
“Hair of the dog” means drinking more alcohol to try to relieve a hangover caused by drinking the night before. The full expression is “the hair of the dog that bit you,” based on the old idea that a small amount of whatever caused an injury might also help cure it. Today, someone suggesting a…
Lily of the valley most commonly symbolizes purity, happiness, renewal, humility, and the return of joy. Its tiny white bell-shaped flowers make it look delicate and innocent, while its habit of returning each spring has connected it with new beginnings and hope. In love and weddings, lily of the valley can also represent sincere affection…
“Ring Around the Rosie” is often said to be a nursery rhyme about the Black Death or another outbreak of plague, but that explanation is probably a later myth rather than the rhyme’s original meaning. The familiar interpretation connects the “rosie” to a plague rash, “posies” to flowers carried against disease, and “we all fall…
In current internet slang, “6/7” or “67” usually does not have one fixed meaning. Pronounced “six seven,” it became a viral meme used by teenagers and younger internet users as a random reaction, inside joke, or intentionally meaningless response. The humor often comes from saying it when the numbers six and seven appear—or simply shouting…
Garth Brooks is not on Apple Music in the way most major artists are because he has chosen not to license his main catalog to the service. Instead, Brooks has maintained a long-running streaming relationship with Amazon Music, which became the exclusive major streaming home for his catalog in 2016. His decision is not simply…
LP in music means long play or long-playing record. The term originally referred to a 12-inch vinyl record designed to hold much more music than a single, usually playing at 33⅓ revolutions per minute. Today, musicians and fans often use “LP” as another way of saying full-length album, even when the album is released digitally…
Frank Ocean did not really stop making music. He stopped releasing music on the schedule fans expect from a major artist. His last studio album, Blonde, arrived in 2016, and his last formally released solo singles were “Dear April” and “Cayendo” in 2020. Since then, Ocean has previewed unreleased material, worked in studios, discussed another…
Yacht rock is a style of polished, smooth pop and rock associated mainly with the late 1970s and early 1980s. It typically features soft vocals, sophisticated studio production, jazz-influenced chords, electric piano, clean guitar, tight bass lines, and relaxed grooves. Artists commonly associated with yacht rock include Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald, Toto, Kenny Loggins, Boz…