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A Way with Words Posts

Sing with Celine

Prepare for a groaner: If you say all the vowels in the name Celine Dion, you just may be inspired to sing a song yourself. This is part of a complete episode.

Omadhauns, Amadáns, Irish for Fools

Diana from Tucson, Arizona, reports that when she was young, her Irish grandmother would chase her and her misbehaving siblings around the house yelling, “You omadhauns!” Also spelled amadán, this word of Celtic origin means...

Lachryphagy

Lachryphagy is literally “tear-eating,” and refers to the way some insects crawl up to the eyes of much larger animals to sip their protein-rich tears. The name of the wine Lachryma Christi means “tear of Christ,” and someone...

In Tall Cotton

Eric often drives past cotton fields near his home in Tucson, Arizona, which has him wondering about the phrase He’s walking in tall cotton, meaning “Things are going well.” Variants include to be in tall cotton and to walk in high...

I Tell You What’s the Truth

A Kentucky listener says her father often prefaced statements with the phrase I tell you what’s the truth. This regionalism appears in the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (Bookshop|Amazon). A shorter version is I’ll tell you...