My sufficiency has been suffonsified is just one version of a playfully lofty way to say “I’ve had enough to eat.” Janet from San Antonio, Texas, emailed to say her Canadian mother’s version was My sufficiency has been suffonsified, and any more would be flippity flop. Her uncle’s rendition was even longer: I have had sufficiency of all the numerous delicacies offered. Any more would be a superfluity. Gastronomical science admonishes me that I have reached a point consistent with dietetical economy. In other words, any more would be flippity flop. This is part of a complete episode.
Unparalleled misalignments are pairs of phrases in which the words in one phrase are each synonyms of the words in the other, but the phrases themselves mean different things. For example, the phrase blanket statement can be paired with cover story...
Jameela in Charlotte, North Carolina, says her family refers to their television’s remote control as the clicker, but her friends insist on calling it the remote. These devices go by other names as well, including doofer, flicker, zapper, and...
Subscribe to the fantastic A Way with Words newsletter!
Martha and Grant send occasional messages with language headlines, event announcements, linguistic tidbits, and episode reminders. It’s a great way to stay in touch with what’s happening with the show.
