Dexter in Clintonville, Alabama, reports that his Minnesota-born wife was baffled after she sneezed and he responded with Scat cat! Across the American South, this phrase and variations of it serve as an informal response when someone sneezes. Other...
Roz Chast, a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, asked her followers on Instagram for their terms for informal fridge-foraging, and says she received more than 1700 responses, including California plate, spa plate, having weirds, eek, mustard...
The new book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language is a smart, engaging, introduction to language and linguistics in general. It’s also rich with insights about how we communicate online. With verve, wit, and nerdy delight...
Just so you know, there are more exciting ways to spell yes. Yass, yiss, and other variants including more S’s are used both in speech and informal writing to convey added enthusiasm and personality. This is part of a complete episode.
Trace, used for locales like the Natchez Trace, refers to an informal road, like a deer trail or an Indian trail. This is part of a complete episode.
The word victuals is pronounced like “vittles” and refers to cooked foods and shares a Latin root with vitamin and vitality. Sometimes it’s spelled vittles, a form often associated with more informal or rustic speech. This is part...
