Dave in Council Bluffs, Iowa, has fond memories of Hough Bakeries in Cleveland, Ohio, which made a treat called lady locks. Sometimes called lady locks, foam rollers, and clothespin cookies, they featured puff pastry rolled around a small cylinder —...
A young woman wants a family-friendly way to describe a statement that’s fraudulent or bogus, but all the words she can think of sound old-fashioned. Is there a better term than malarkey, poppycock, or rubbish? Also, listeners step up to help...
If you hear someone use the word jumbo for “bologna,” it’s a good bet they’re from Pittsburgh or somewhere nearby in southwestern Pennsylvania. A regional company, Isaly’s, sold a brand of lunchmeat with that name. This...
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game of geographic and astrological portmanteaus. For example, if you’re looking for something with a spongy-pointed marker in Pittsburgh, how about a Felt Tip Pennsylvania? Or if someone born in June is a...
Great Googly-Moogly, it's another newsletter from "A Way with Words"! In our latest archive episode: If a woman keeps her own name after marriage, is she "Ms." or "Mrs."? Also,"redd up," "out like...
We all misspeak from time to time, but how about when we mangle words on purpose? Do you ever say fambly instead of family, perazackly for exactly, or coinkydink for coincidence? When Grant recently wrote a newspaper column about saying things wrong...
