Rebecca in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that when the grandkids would take their leave, her grandmother would send them off with the sweet admonition Be particular! Heard most often in the American South and South Midlands, this advice derives from the idea of particular meaning “cautious,” “exacting,” or “precise.” Particular derives from Latin particula, literally “little part,” the source also of particulate. This is part of a complete episode.
According to Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English (Bookshop|Amazon) by Ben Yagoda, the word smarmy, meaning “unctuous” or “ingratiating,” may come from a 19th-century magazine contest, in which readers sent in...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
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