Chris from Kittery, Maine, wonders about the colloquial expression no sirree, Bob! or yes sirree, Bob!, which is an emphatic way of saying “definitely not!” or “no way!” The sirree (sometimes spelled with one r, as siree) in...
A psychiatric home health worker is curious about the use of nuthouse to mean “a mental health facility.” This term goes back to the turn of the 20th century. The word nuts itself once had an extremely positive connotation, referring to...
Methylphenidate, a mild stimulant used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, was first synthesized in 1944 by Italian chemist Leandro Panizzon. He named it for his wife Marguerite, who went by Rita, which is why methylphenidate is more commonly called...
With memorable phrases like coagulated sunlight and gilded gravel, poem “Churning Day” by Seamus Heaney is a fine example of how poets can draw out astonishing beauty from the most mundane of tasks — in this case, churning butter...
J.P. in Temecula, California, is a high schooler studying French and Spanish. He notes that the Spanish word con means “with” and English has some linguistically related words, such as congress, which suggests “coming...
In Appalachia, if you ignore better choices before choosing a lesser one, such as a mate, you might be said to fly all over a daisy field and settle on a cow pile or flit like a butterfly from flower to flower and land on a cow crap. This is part of...