When she was a child, Chris from Santa Rosa, California, misunderstood the definition of the word vehicle—with amusing results. This is part of a complete episode.
The expressions your mother wears combat boots and your mother wears army boots descend from the African-American tradition of the Dozens, also known as sounding or capping or snapping, where people try to top each other’s insults. This is...
A barn find is a classic car that has been discovered after being stored for a long period in a place such as a barn or shed. The term also applies to similarly stored motorcycles and aircraft. 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...
The expressive word kench is obsolete, but in the 13th century, it meant “to laugh loudly.” This is part of a complete episode.