Do you still take your leftovers in a doggy bag? The term used to refer to a bone or shank the chef would give a guest to take home to their dog. Nowadays, there’s no shame in keeping your leftovers, and that parcel goes by other names, like...
A listener from San Diego, California, sent us two terms: pawburst, which happens when a cat reaches out to stretch, and head-to-hat ratio, or the number of jobs one person has to juggle. This is part of a complete episode.
A calliope — that organ often found on steamboats or at circuses — ends like Penelope, not cantaloupe. The word originally comes from the Greek muse of eloquence and epic poetry, though the sound of a calliope today is associated more with carnival...
A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender says, what is this, a joke? Yep. This is part of a complete episode.
When someone says maybe, are they suggesting an option, or merely being polite? A caller from Anna, Texas, met a Canadian who used the word maybe to soften his imperatives. The same effect is often achieved with conditional phrases: “Would you...
Here’s a great Southernism: “If someone’s nothing but breath and britches, and means they don’t amount to much.” This is part of a complete episode.