Dear Geist,

Which is correct: “painted with the same brush,” “tainted with the same brush” or “tarnished with the same brush”?

Dear Colette,

comes from a German word having to do with trees, and the expression is an old one that has nothing to do with tarring-and-feathering, or with any racist opinion or act. But it does have a whiff of menace; perhaps that’s why the variations have caught on (even though “tarnished with the same brush” doesn’t even make sense).