Idioms from around the world that become hilarious when translated into English

It can rain a lot more than just cats and dogs.

Dec 26, 2024

Photo credit: Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash – Two donkeys are better than one—'repetition teaches the donkey.'

You probably know what it means to hit the hay, tie the knot or buy a lemon. Maybe you’ve already killed two birds with one stone today, so effortlessly that it was a piece of cake. But to a non-English speaker, using these phrases would probably make you sound crazy … or should I say gone crackers?

That’s the fun thing about idioms. They change depending on the time, place and culture creating them. In other words, they usually sound ridiculous to anyone except those who normally use them. Looking at turns of phrase in different languages helps us see the world through different eyes. And man does it seem impressive at a party.

Just think, instead of saying “it’s raining cats and dogs,” next time you could incorporate a more Lithuanian take, and say “it’s raining axes.” How metal is that?

It can also be raining old women, barrels, buckets, pipe stems, frogs, female trolls, fire and brimstone … depending on where you’re from.

Some of these idioms from around the world make a lot of sense. Others get so lost in translation, you can’t help but get tickled pink.

Swedish

”Nu ska du få dina fiskar värmda.”

Literal translation: Now your fishes will be warmed.

It’s another way of saying someone’s in trouble, or their “goose is cooked.”

The Swedish language is definitely not lacking in the threats department. They also have a saying, “nu har du satt din sista potatis,” which translates to “now you have planted your last potato.”

Imagine hearing Batman say “You’ve planted your last potato, Joker.” Doesn’t have quite the intended effect.

Italian

“Avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto.”

Literal translation: To have one’s eyes lined with ham.

Leave it to the Italians to have food-related phrases. You can use this when someone can’t see what’s right in front of them. It can also be used when someone is blinded by love. Sadly, there is no “ham-colored glasses” idiom.

Icelandic

“Að leggja höfuðið í bleyti.”

Literal translation: To lay your head in water.

You say this when you “need to sleep on something,” or “put your thinking cap on.” This one is hilarious because I cannot fathom getting any mental clarity from holding my head in the water.

Arabic

“At-Tikraar yu’allem al-Himaar.”

Literal translation: Repetition teaches the donkey.

Practice makes perfect, but it especially does for donkeys. Animal-themed wisdom at its finest.

German

“Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof.”

Literal translation: I only understand train station.

It’s another way of saying “it’s all Greek to me.”

The history of this one is a bit mysterious. One theory is that it originated from WWI soldiers who had only one thing on their mind after getting discharged: returning home. Meaning, they could only comprehend the train station that would lead them there. Others say it refers to tourists new to Germany who have really only learned the German word for “train station.” Which would indicate that everything else is foreign to them.

And let’s not forget “nicht mein bier, nicht meine sorgen,” translating to “not my beer, not my worries.”

(Fun fact: The term “not my circus, not my monkeys” actually stems from a Polish proverb, not an English saying at all.)

Norwegian

“Å snakke rett fra leveren.”

Literal translation: To speak directly from the liver.

When you say something without sugar-coating it, you are speaking directly from the liver. This dates back to a time when the liver was thought to be the magical organ that produced courage. So speaking from the liver is just like speaking from the heart, only down and to the right a little.

Chinese

“Mama huhu.”

Literal translation: Horse horse, tiger tiger.

You can use it to say something is just okay. Not good, not bad, just … meh.

As the story goes, a Chinese painter who, not very good at his craft, created a drawing of an animal that looked sort of like a tiger, and sort of like, you guessed it, a horse. That story actually has a tragic ending that serves as a cautionary tale against carelessness. But nowadays it takes on a lighter connotation.

And like “comme ci, comme ca” in French, “horse horse, tiger tiger” isn’t quite as commonly spoken as non-native speakers would assume.

Language continues to be an ever-evolving and always entertaining way to not only appreciate other cultures, but also note the similarities. Words might change slightly, but ultimately we’re all expressing the same things.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff.

Culture, Family

A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.

Better health, better jobs, and a brighter future all start with access to a safe, affordable home.

Sarah Watts

3/25/2026
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.

Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.

Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.

Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
- Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis
- Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community
- Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe
- Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door
- Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today.
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Photo credit: Anthony Marinelli Music/YouTube – Michael Jackson, left, and Matt Forger.

Culture, Pop Culture

Michael Jackson’s sounds engineer reveals the genius origins of ‘Annie’ from ‘Smooth Criminal’

She is definitely not OK.

Heather Wake

5/1/2026

With the latest Michael Jackson biopic taking the box office by storm, the late singer and his work are back in the pop culture zeitgeist. Now, even more lore has been added to the conversation, courtesy of Jackson’s longtime personal sound engineer, Matt Forger.

In an interview with Anthony Marinelli, Forger revealed the inspiration behind the character Annie in “Smooth Criminal,” saying that while on tour with the Jackson 5, each of the brothers took a CPR class, where they practiced on a Resusci Anne doll. Part of the protocol was asking, “Annie, are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?” to check a patient’s condition.

A nod to genius

“That catchphrase sort of stayed in his memory,” Forger said, noting it as one of many examples of Jackson’s innate gift for songwriting. Like many of the greats, Jackson was able to expertly pinpoint hooks with the most emotional punch and build out full-blown stories from there.

In the song lyrics, we get a story of a woman attacked in her apartment by a “smooth criminal,” who breaks in through the window and then violently strikes the victim. By the second verse, Annie is being resuscitated, seemingly to no avail.

The doll has a fascinating, dark history

Anne’s story began in France in the late 1880s, when the body of an unidentified teenage girl was found in the River Seine. Unlike the case in “Smooth Criminal,” there was no evidence of violence at the scene. Presumably, the girl had taken her own life. Death masks were still a common ritual, and one was created for her to immortalize the eerily calm expression she left behind, as some legends say. It became so popular that it was mass-produced.

Fast forward to the late 1950s, when Norwegian toy maker and publisher Åsmund S. Laerdal was commissioned to create a realistic, life-sized manikin for training people in the new mouth-to-mouth resuscitation method. He recalled seeing one of these masks in his in-laws’ home and felt it was the perfect expression for the dummy.

Today, Resusci Anne is also known as “the most kissed girl in the world” since millions of trainees have performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her over the decades.

Viewers react

You would think this connection is well known among those who have learned CPR. But judging from the comments on Forger’s interview, it’s still a largely buried fact:

“Wow, too many times I have said, ‘Annie are you ok” and proceeded to give compressions and then 3 breaths. I never made the connection.”

“I studied CPR last year and the mannequin was called Annie but I thought it was because of the song, didn’t realise the mannequin Annie came first.”

“I took CPR but never put that together about this song.”

Whether you’re into obscure history, pop music, or fun explainers, this story has just what you’re looking for. It also goes to show just how deeply interconnected our world is. Thanks to a bit of human creativity, a tragic mystery from 19th-century France turned into a life-saving training tool, followed by one of pop’s most iconic songs. There really is an endless supply of inspiration.

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Photo credit: Super Festivals/Wikimedia Commons – Actor Matthew Lillard.

Culture, Pop Culture

Matthew Lillard had a surprisingly humble explanation for his recent Hollywood comeback

The “Scooby-Doo” star is back in the limelight after the massive “Five Nights at Freddy’s” success.

Tod Perry

5/1/2026

Actor Matthew Lillard can trigger Millennial nostalgia like few others. He was perfectly cast in the popular Scooby-Doo films of the early aughts as Norville “Shaggy” Rogers and appeared as Stu Macher in the original Scream (1996). He also had memorable roles in She’s All That (1999), Thirteen Ghosts (2001), and Without a Paddle (2004).

Lillard’s career began to cool down in the late ‘00s. Although he never went away, he transitioned from a comedic performer to starring in dramatic roles, most notably in 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return. However, now, after the lead role in the massive 2023 horror hit, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Lillard is in the midst of a comeback, starring in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (2025), The Life of Chuck (2024), and the Marvel series Daredevil: Born Again.

Lillard talked about his recent success with a refreshing sense of gratitude and humility on a recent episode of the Phase Hero podcast, hosted by Brandon Davis.

“Scooby-Doo one and two are more popular now than they ever were when they came out,” Lillard said. “So I do think there’s a weird nostalgia thing happening in our industry and in the zeitgeist, because I think that people are longing for ye olde times.”

“I think that’s one of the reasons I’m having this moment, to be honest, is because I was identified in that moment, so people are hiring me again,” he added. “That’s why I’m working. I don’t think anyone really likes me. They just missed the old times. ‘Who should we get? Who’s old and relatively warm and fuzzy feeling? Let’s get Matthew Lillard. Talented? No. But do we like him? Yes.’”

Matthew Lillard says Quentin Tarantino dissing him "sucked" and felt like he got "punched in the mouth"

“It felt like I had died and was in heaven watching everyone send out their RIP tweets, sort of living through nice things people say after you die.”pic.twitter.com/euNqCZK6bl
— Emir Han (@RealEmirHan) February 23, 2026

The 56-year-old actor’s self-awareness was also on display in how he gracefully handled some very blunt criticism from director Quentin Tarantino. Last December, Lillard was brought up in a conversation in which Tarantino criticized actor Paul Dano’s performance in There Will Be Blood.

“I’m not saying he’s giving a terrible performance,” Tarantino said. “I’m saying he’s giving a non-entity [performance]. I don’t care for him. I don’t care for Owen Wilson, I don’t care for Matthew Lillard.”

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A post shared by Matthew Lillard (@matthewlillard)

The very public diss inspired many of Lillard’s colleagues to sing his praises.

“It felt like I had died and was in heaven watching everyone send out their RIP tweets. I mean, it was really being a part of your own wake, sort of sitting there living through all the nice things people say after you die,” Lillard told People. “Everyone, from the people at the mall this weekend with my kids to George Clooney and James Gunn and Mike Flanagan, I mean, people have sort of been really generous with telling me how much they loved me and liked my work.”

Lillard’s response to his sudden success is a great example of someone who has been in the industry for decades and has learned how to keep his head on his shoulders. There are going to be highs and lows, but when your feet are firmly planted in reality, you can make it through them all.

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Photo credit: Canva – "Wow" is a lot older than people might guess.

Culture, Generations

‘Wow!’ may sound like a modern slang term, but it dates all the way back to the 1500s

“Wow” is actually older than “huzzah.”

Annie Reneau

5/1/2026

Many old words, such as “fortnight” or “swashbuckle,” sound as archaic as they are. But some words that sound modern are surprisingly old.

Scottish actor and writer Kenny Boyle shared that the word “wow” has been around a lot longer than people might think. While it may sound like slang from the 20th century, it actually dates back over 500 years to Scotland.

“This is one of those anachronistic things,” Boyle said in a TikTok video. “If you were to read a historical fiction or something like that, and one of the characters were to say ‘Wow!’ you’d probably think, ‘Well, that’s weird. That’s a very modern word, isn’t it?’ The answer is actually no, at least not in Scotland.”

@kennyboyleofficial
A word that you didn’t know was Scottish. Wow, what a surprise! #scotland #scottishculture #scotslanguage #tradition
♬ original sound – Kenny Boyle Official

We first see the written use of “wow” in 1513

Boyle explained that “wow” dates to the 1500s and meant basically the same thing it does now: an expression of disbelief or surprise.

Babbel notes that the first known written use of “wow” appeared in 1513 in a Scottish English translation of Virgil’s Aeneid. The exact quote is, “Out on thir wanderand spiritis, wow! thow cryis.” It was possibly a modification (or perhaps even a typo) of the exclamation “Vow!”, which was an intensified version of “I vow!”

“Wow” doesn’t really have a meaning in and of itself, but is rather a natural exclamation. The “W” sound is one of the easiest sounds to make, so we find natural exclamations similar to “wow” across different languages.

Facial expressions also play a role

Babbel explains that many natural exclamations relate to the facial expressions people make. “The facial expression associated with shock or surprise is an open, rounded mouth, which happens to coincide with how a human pronounces ‘wow,’” the video states.

Other exclamations (also known as emotive interjections) that seem to coincide with facial expressions include “Ow!” and “Ouch!”, as well as “Yay!” and “Hooray!”

When we say, “Wow!” it looks like we’re saying “Wow!” Photo credit: Canva

“Hooray” and “hurrah” are thought to be modifications of “huzzah” or “huzza,” which we probably recognize as old terms. But interestingly enough, “wow” is even older than “huzzah.” (Not by much, but still surprising.)

How “wow” became an everyday English exclamation

According to Babbel, “wow” was commonly used by the 19th century, but it really took hold in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1920, however, “wow” was used as a noun, as in “This song is a wow.” Today, “wow” is rarely used as a noun but is often used as a verb. For example, “I was wowed by that song.”

A more obscure meaning of “wow” from the 1930s referred to pitch distortions in audio recordings. But by far the most common usage today is simply the emotive interjection “Wow!”

And then there’s always the sarcastic use of the word as well: “Wow. That’s really interesting.” Just changing the punctuation to periods instead of exclamation points gives it a whole different flavor.

Thank you, 16th-century Scotland, for such a useful exclamation.

You can follow Kenny Boyle on TikTok for more fun Scottish history and etymology.

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Photo credit: @AllThings1990s on YouTube – The children of 90s kids can now get free pizza for reading books.

Culture, Nostalgia

90s kids rejoice as Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! program returns for a new generation of readers

Books and pepperoni reunited again.

Erik Barnes

5/1/2026

In the 1990s, kids were given a tasty incentive to pick up a book and read. The mission, should they choose to accept it, was to read a certain amount each month to earn a button, stickers, and a free personal pan pizza. Now, ’90s kids can offer this same challenge to their own children, because Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT Summer Reading Program has officially returned.

The BOOK IT program is a free reading incentive tool for parents and teachers to help encourage youngsters to read recreationally during the summer. While back in the day participants manually filled out forms to track their progress, parents today can do so on an app. The app can also redeem rewards for free pizza throughout the summer. Enrollment begins on May 1, 2026.

Brief History of BOOK IT

Per The Takeout, the history of the BOOK IT program begins in the mid-1980s with then-president of Pizza Hut Arthur Gunther and marketing executive Bud Gates. As President Ronald Reagan encouraged businesses to promote education, Gunther wanted to participate. He was inspired by his son’s struggle with literacy as a child. With that in mind, he developed the program to reward young kids for reading. Kids from pre-K through sixth grade would get a free personal pan pizza if they reached certain monthly reading benchmarks. This not only encouraged kids to read for free pizza, but also got their parents to order food for themselves while they were there.

The program would continue in various forms for 40 years, and has had a lasting legacy with many Millennials. Many enjoy remembering finishing up a Goosebumps, Encyclopedia Brown, or other book series of their youth to get a free one-topping six-inch pie.

There are critics of the Pizza Hut BOOK IT program, though. Many argue that reading should be encouraged for its own sake. There is also understandable concern about linking a child’s education to a national fast food pizza chain. Others argue that, in an age when children’s reading skills are declining nationally, such incentive programs can still help. After all, many adults on social media today credit BOOK IT for making them readers.

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How to get kids to read more (pizza optional)

There are other ways to boost a child’s literacy without pizza (though pizza goes well with everything). Aside from continuing story time with younger kids, parents can still bond with their elementary-aged children by playing word games with them such as Scrabble or Boggle.

Another way to join your child is to share their interests. If they want to read a young adult book they’ve picked out, consider reading it too. It’ll create something to bond over as a “family book club.” After you both finish it, you can discuss the novel over a fun dinner out, whether at Pizza Hut elsewhere.

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Photo credit: Canva – Three older adults eat ice cream outside a store.

Culture, Generations

100 people who’ve lived to 100 were asked the secret to a long, happy life. Here are their answers.

The average 100-year-old surveyed only “feels” 68. That’s incredible.

Evan Porter

4/30/2026

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) recently interviewed 100 centenarians, or people who have lived to the ripe age of 100.

Fascinatingly, 100-year-olds feel younger than ever. The report reveals that the average centenarian only “feels” about 68. It’s a number that’s dropping dramatically. In 2015, when UHC conducted a similar survey, the average respondent said they felt 79. That’s incredible.

What that ultimately means is that these folks can teach us an awful lot about how to live both a long and joyful life, how to feel decades younger, and how to keep living life to the fullest into our 100s and beyond. Here are some of their secrets:

1. Staying up-to-date on tech keeps you young

You might think of centenarians clinging to their rotary phones and the vinyl record players they had long before they were “cool.” You’d be wrong.

UHC found that 100-year-olds are experimenting with ChatGPT and other AI—around 27% of them. And a stunning 40% of them regularly play video games.

2. A strong body can go the distance

Centenarians have changed their approach to longevity in the past decade. Compared to 2015, far more respondents today are doing regular strength training and monitoring their diet.

Overall, they’re more active in almost every way. A higher percentage of 100-year-olds are doing cardio, gardening, and even meditating or practicing intentional stress relief. Meditation jumped from 29% of centenarians to 42% today.

“Staying active keeps my heart strong, mind sharp, body moving, spirit high, and health steady every day,” one said.

The only activity that declined was walking and hiking, and only by a small margin. But these busy seniors had to find the time to hit the gym somewhere.

3. Finding humor in daily life is the best medicine

It’s one thing when Joe Schmoe says “laughter is the best medicine.” It’s another when some of our oldest citizens are living proof that it’s true.

It might be reading between the lines, but the cranky and miserly don’t seem as likely to make it to 100. Eighty-five percent of respondents said they laugh often and find that having a sense of humor comes easily to them.

“A good belly laugh can make you feel better than any pill, I’ll tell you that,” one said.

4. There’s something to look forward to at every age

One of the most interesting questions asked of the participants was about their “best decade.”

The answers from the 100 centenarians, who’ve lived through and seen it all, reveal that there’s so much good to find in every season of life. Life doesn’t go downhill after a certain age; you just have to learn to appreciate what it has to offer.

Your 20s are for freedom and exploration. Your 30s and 40s are all about family. Your 50s and 60s are the best for community and friendship. Your 70s and beyond are about finding contentment and joy in the simple things.

Even in the harder decades, the centenarians now have the perspective to know there was always light at the end of the tunnel:

“I’d tell myself to embrace every messy moment because it all works out in the end. I really needed to hear that in my late teens when everything felt like such a big deal.”

5. “Feeling old” has nothing to do with age and is sometimes out of your control

Fascinatingly, the respondents were asked when they first started to “feel old.” Their answers had nothing to do with a specific age.

It came down to the moments: giving up driving, the death of a spouse, and moving out of a beloved home and into a smaller place where they could age.

There’s something peaceful about that. Some things may be in your control—keeping your body and mind sharp can delay certain events. Others are completely out of your control. But the overarching theme is that there’s no reason to fear a number.

6. Family and friends are key to survival

Being isolated and lonely is devastating for your health and longevity. Seventy-eight percent of the seniors in this report, thriving at the age of 100, credit a big part of their vigor to regularly spending time with friends and family.

“They are everything to me. I try to spend as much time with my family as I can,” one of the 100-year-olds said. “Life is short; you never know when it’ll be the last day.”

7. The advice they’d give their younger selves is what we all need to hear

Centenarians say the secret to happiness is really no secret at all. It’s mind-numbingly simple: Don’t worry so much. Spend time with your loved ones. Move your body. Be true to yourself.

The difference is that these 100-year-olds have the wisdom and urgency to really mean it. Don’t wait until you’re their age to start living like you know you should.

“If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” one said, referring to getting a promotion at work, but more generally, anything you truly want. In other words, go for it.

The overall trends identified in the report are surprising and hopeful.

In 10 years, our centenarians will likely be even more focused on their physical and mental health, finding even more joy in their lives as they age, and, through it all, feeling younger than ever. We can learn a lot from watching what they’re doing right.

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Before and after photos of people who drank wine.

Culture, Pop Culture

19 viral photos show what happens after drinking 1, 2, and 3 glasses of wine

This is what it looks like to “wine” down.

Upworthy Staff

4/30/2026

Marcos Alberti’s “3 Glasses” project began with a joke and a few drinks with his friends.

The photo project originally depicted Alberti’s friends drinking, first immediately after work and then after one, two, and three glasses of wine.

But after Imgur user minabear circulated the story, “3 Glasses” became more than just a joke. In fact, it went viral, garnering more than 1 million views and nearly 1,800 comments in its first week. So Alberti started taking more pictures and not just of his friends.

“The first picture was taken right away when our guests (had) just arrived at the studio in order to capture the stress and the fatigue after a full day after working all day long and from also facing rush hour traffic to get here,” Alberti explained on his website. “Only then fun time and my project could begin. At the end of every glass of wine, a snapshot, nothing fancy, a face and a wall, 3 times…by the end of the third glass several smiles emerged and many stories were told.”

Why was the series so popular? Anyone who has ever had a long day at work and needed to “wine” down will quickly see why.

Take a look:

This article originally appeared ten years ago. It has been updated.

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Photo credit: Canva Photos – A woman on a Delta flight unexpectedly went into labor. Two vacationing paramedics sprang into action.

Culture, Wholesome

Two vacationing paramedics deliver a baby at 30,000 feet with a shoelace and borrowed blankets

A paramedic is never truly off the clock.

Evan Porter

4/30/2026

The best flights are uneventful. Timely, smooth, and relaxing. Even a little boring. However, that’s not always in the cards.

A lot of things can happen in the air, including unforeseen medical emergencies. Thankfully, this one has a happy ending thanks to the help from two selfless strangers.

Woman on Delta flight unexpectedly goes into labor minutes before landing

Ashley Blair was pregnant and due in about two weeks, but really wanted to be with her mom in Oregon when the baby arrived. So, she hopped a Delta flight through Atlanta and was well on her way when things took an unexpected turn.

Pregnant mothers are generally discouraged from flying this late into a pregnancy, and some airlines may forbid them entirely. But life happens. Sometimes, travel is unavoidable, and in Blair’s case, she still had a few weeks left before she was supposed to go into labor, making the risk relatively low.

The baby had other ideas.

CNN reports that Blair went into labor when her Delta flight was about 30 minutes away from landing at Portland International.

Two hero paramedics step up to help

A paramedic is never truly off the clock. Even though Tina Fritz and Kaarin Powell, two friends and emergency workers, were flying home from vacation in the Dominican Republic, they’d already been called to action not long after the plane took off.

Fritz and Powell were attending to another passenger when flight attendants made an urgent announcement: Was there a doctor onboard?

They rushed to Blair’s side and, with the help of flight attendants, began shuffling passengers around to make enough room to deliver the baby. Unfortunately, there were no medical tools or sterile equipment available on the plane, and the baby was coming fast, so there was no time to lose.

150-some passengers, and the crew, all pitched in to help. Photo Credit: Edgar Zuniga Jr./Flickr

Passengers work together to help

Right as Blair was getting ready to start pushing, the pilots announced that the plane was about to begin its landing procedure. That usually means all passengers and crew must take their seats.

This was going to have to happen fast.

Fritz and Powell told flight attendants that they needed blankets, and lots of them. Passengers all over the plane passed theirs back so that Blair could be comfortable as she began pushing.

They also needed shoelaces, of all things. One to use as a tourniquet for an IV, and another to tie off the umbilical cord. That is, before they cut it with a butter knife, which was all that was available.

Truly an amazing MacGyver-like delivery. Just a few quick pushes and the baby was born. Some passengers barely even knew anything was happening outside of a few murmurs and folks standing up or moving around.

According to all reports, Blair and baby girl Brielle were healthy and stable when the plane arrived.

A beautiful irony in the teamwork

Airplanes and airports are notorious for bringing out the worst in humanity. Passengers berate flight attendants, fight over seats, and throw etiquette and human decency into the wind over the most minor inconveniences.

So, it’s amazing to see an example of 150-some odd strangers working together to tackle a true medical emergency. It wasn’t the smooth, convenient, and peaceful ride some passengers probably had in mind—but it’s one they won’t soon forget.

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Photo credit: Canva – A pregnant woman on an airplane and a pilot talking on his headphones.

Culture, Wholesome

A baby was born landing at JFK. The pilot ran with the traffic controller’s name pick on the spot.

The pilot’s “will do” came back instantly.

Adam Albright-Hanna

Upworthy Staff

4/30/2026

There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when professionals doing routine work get hit with a genuinely extraordinary situation. The instinct is usually one of two things: clinical efficiency or unexpected warmth. Sometimes, gloriously, both.

That’s exactly what happened on April 4, 2026, when Caribbean Airlines Flight BW005 was descending into John F. Kennedy International Airport from Kingston, Jamaica. One of the passengers, a heavily pregnant woman, went into labor. The pilot calmly radioed Kennedy Tower with the situation and requested a direct routing in. Air traffic control lined everything up: clearance to land on Runway 4R, ground crew briefed, medical personnel arranged at the gate.

Then, a few minutes after touchdown, ground control checked in.

An airplane pilot. talking to air traffic controller. Photo credit: Canva

“Caribbean five, ground.”

“Yes sir, go ahead.”

“Is it out yet?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All right. Tell her she’s got to name it Kennedy.”

“Ahh, Kennedy. Will do.”

“All right. Have a good day.”

That was it. The audio, which CBS Mornings shared on April 6, has been making the rounds online ever since, mostly because of the timing of the whole thing. A mother had just delivered a healthy baby on a Boeing 737 mid-descent. The pilot had just helped coordinate that situation while flying a plane. And the ground controller, having calmly walked the flight through one of the more unusual arrivals at JFK that week, decided the appropriate sign-off was a dad joke about naming the kid after the airport.

According to Caribbean Airlines, the flight never even formally declared an emergency. The crew handled it within standard procedures, and upon landing the mother and newborn were attended to by medical personnel and received the care they needed. Everyone was fine.

What’s stuck with people online isn’t really the medical drama, though. It’s the ground controller’s instinct to make a joke. There’s a version of this exchange that’s all clipped efficiency, and we’d never have heard about it. But this particular controller, in the middle of a shift at one of the busiest airspaces in the country, decided the moment called for a small human gesture. A pop of warmth on a frequency that’s usually nothing but headings and altitudes.

It’s nice to see that the people running our infrastructure are people. They’re listening, they’re paying attention, and once in a while they’re trying to give a stranger they’ll never meet a little something to remember the day by.

Whether the baby actually ends up named Kennedy is up to the family. But somewhere out there is a woman who can tell her child a true story that starts with “you were born on a plane, and the man on the radio who guided us in picked your name.”

Hard to top that.

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