Is it wrong to refer to children as kids? One discerning mother, when asked about her kids, always replied, “I don’t raise goats, but my children are fine.” Grant explains that as early as the 1600s, the word kids had popped up to...
Why are the names of cars so unimaginative? Grant argues that auto manufacturers might take inspiration from ornithology to build a better car name. (Then again, would you be any less aggravated if you were rear-ended by a lazuli bunting?) Also this...
Where’d we get the expression “to get someone’s goat”? A caller suspects it comes from a Sicilian folk tale. But does it? This is part of a complete episode.
mush n.— «This may be giving the game away as to where I work but the slang names our scummy club patrons use really do grate on me.…The ones that really get my goat and raise my heckles are “Mush” and “Gadgee...
gadgee n.— «This may be giving the game away as to where I work but the slang names our scummy club patrons use really do grate on me.…The ones that really get my goat and raise my heckles are “Mush” and “Gadgee...
goat’s mouth n.— Note: According to G. Llewellyn Watson’s Jamaican Sayings, “A person is said to have a goat’s mouth when he/she wishes another evil, and the wishes are fulfilled. It also applies to one who has the foresight...