In a 1936 episode of Jack Benny’s radio show, a woman says that her father sprained his ankle the night before while truckin’. This has an A Way with Words listener confused; she thought trucking was a term from the 1970s. Grant clears...
Time for another linguistic mystery. Where would you be if you decided to go twacking around duckish, and then you came home and wrote about it in a scribbler?
sleeper n.— «Other mystery words I found while perusing my great-grandfather’s papers were “orehano” and “sleeper.” “I haven’t seen any of Wise’s men lately and I have been helping myself to some of his Orehanos and have...
Time to solve another linguistic mystery. You’re in a restaurant. You overhear a conversation at the next table. The woman says to her friend, “You know, I just love the taste of joe floggers.” And her dining companion replies...
yngling n.— «A mystery to anyone without an interest in sailing before those Games, the boat drew headlines after the success of the trio—whose sporting prowess was augmented by good looks—and suddenly there was great interest in the...
Scottish disease n.— «Where MS comes from and what triggers it remains a mystery, but it is believed to be at least partly hereditary. It is sometimes known as the “Scottish disease” as this country has the highest...