Turns out the word ‘run’ has over 600 meanings in it’s verb form, giving it the most meanings of any verb in the english language (as determined by the Oxford English Dictionary types. They know a few things about words). Talk of the Nation did a fun segment a couple of weeks ago on the astounding number of applications for this little three letter word. One of the questions prompted me to think of my own favorite use of the verb run:

To run one’s mouth. aka Running your mouth.

It’s one of those turns of phrases that’s both impractical (one’s mouth could not literally run, much like the nose) and yet describes a scenario so perfectly there’s no way you could not get the mental image of a chatterbox. At least, I can’t. Not only does it describe an action, but it gives a good picture of how that action is carried out: fast, incessant and potentially without much thought involved.

It’s one of those “perfect phrases” in my mind. Thanks, run!