Good news if you’ve wondered about a word for recognizable images composed of random visual stimuli—that image of Elvis in your grilled-cheese sandwich, for example. It’s pareidolia. This is part of a complete episode.
We asked you to tell us about odd regional food names, and boy did you oblige! Martha reads some of your letters about whoopie pies, hot tamales, pretzel salad, coolers, and the frappe vs. milkshake controversy.
What do you call a word made from a blend of two other words, like motel from motor and hotel? A listener says his term for them is “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup words,” after the old commercial: “You got chocolate in my peanut...
Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words. This one's full of soda-fountain goodness! Let's just say right out of the gate that, judging by the emails and phone calls, the top call for this past weekend's show was the one...
Have you ever eaten a Benedictine sandwich? Or savored a juicy pork steak? What’s a favorite dish you grew up with that may be mystifying to someone from another part of the country? Also, what does it mean to tell someone to “put a snap...
head out v. phr.— «Wheat plants normally “head out”—that’s the term for producing the grain kernels expected to be harvested in June and July—between May 10 and May 25.» —“Wheat not hurt” by Mark Fagan LJWorld...