Bed bug Archives – A Way with Words

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Currently viewing the tag: "Bed bug"

B-Flat Meaning Ordinary

Posted by Grant Barrett on August 15, 2020 · Add Comment

Rachel from Harrogate, Tennessee, says when she was growing up in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area, she and her fellow musicians used the term B-flat as slang for “ordinary” or “average.” In the 1938 publication New York Panorama, a guidebook to New York State put out by the Works Progress Administration, there’s a section on the [...]

Dirty Laundry (#episode 1520)

Posted by Grant Barrett on March 11, 2019 · Add Comment

When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term for “straw.” And: What’s the story behind the bedtime admonition “Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite”? [...]

“Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite” Origin

Posted by Grant Barrett on March 9, 2019 · Add Comment

Claire from Wilmington, North Carolina, wants to know the origin of the phrase “sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.” She heard a story she heard about the saying having to tightening ropes that support mattresses, which is not the origin. Sometimes this phrase involves insects other than bedbugs, such as mosquitos or fleas. It’s [...]

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B-Flat Meaning Ordinary

Dirty Laundry (#episode 1520)

“Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite” Origin