A Way with Words | Television

Scooter-Pooting (episode #1574)

Posted by Grant Barrett on July 26, 2021 · Add Comment

Taking a Dump on the Ice

Posted by Grant Barrett on July 10, 2021 · Add Comment

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Tons of UFO Snot

Posted by Grant Barrett on May 1, 2021 · Add Comment

The documentary The Palindromists includes a scene with author, actor, and devoted palindrome constructor Danica McKellar showing off her favorite reversible creation: Tons of UFO snot. This is part of a complete episode.
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To Have Not a Scooby Doo

Posted by Grant Barrett on December 19, 2020 · Add Comment

On The Great British Baking Show (its US name; it’s called the Great British Bake Off in the UK, but bake-off is trademarked in the US), a contestant confessed he had not a Scooby Doo about how to make a particular recipe. By that he meant he had “not a clue” — an example of [...]
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Laugh-In Catch Phrases

Posted by Grant Barrett on November 14, 2020 · Add Comment

You bet your sweet bippy! meaning “Definitely!” comes from a large cache of catchphrases from the TV variety series Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, which was wildly popular in the late 1960s. The bippy in this case was a euphemism for “butt.” Other phrases made famous on Laugh-In included Look that up in your Funk & [...]
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Origins of Trouser Fly

Posted by Grant Barrett on July 27, 2019 · Add Comment

Gabrielle in Beloit, Michigan, is puzzled about why we refer to the zipper on a pair of pants as a fly. The term originally referred not to the zipper itself, but the flap that goes over it, like the fly that protects the entrance to a tent. This is part of a complete episode.
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