Word nerd Ammon Shea quit his job as a furniture mover in New York City to spend an entire year reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary. The result, in addition to eyestrain, headaches, and skeptics’ puzzlement, was Shea’s new book...
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.
night trick n.— «Sandra Gill works the “night trick,” a term used to describe the night shift, as a yardmaster at the North White Plains yard of the Metro-North Railroad. She took the job with the thought that working overnight would...
Some people wouldn’t be caught without the season’s latest fashions, and others never leave home without their asthma inhaler. But for some of us, what strikes fear into our hearts is the thought of being caught without a book. Jeanie in...
Unless you’ve been hiding out in a galaxy far, far away, you know that this is an election year. Grant and Martha talk about current political slang. Ever hear of glass pockets? Or horseracism? Is there an etymological connection between...
Peggy Lee moment v. phr.— «Now we have the “Peggy Lee Moment.” I heard a reference to this last week on one of those television stations that feature a bunch of guys screaming at each other, and liked it so much I decided to...