We spoke with a listener about the German word querfeldein, or literally “diagonally into the field,” which he used to describe an informal route he and his wife had taken while out for a walk. Many other listeners chimed in with proposed equivalents in English. Many of those involved in orienteering suggested bushwhacking. Others offered jaywalking or walking catty-corner.This is part of a complete episode.
A member of the ski patrol at Vermont’s Sugarbush Resort shares some workplace slang. Boilerplate denotes hard-packed snow with a ruffled pattern that makes skis chatter, death cookies are random chunks that could cause an accident, and...
A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies...
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