Eileen from Chesapeake, Virginia, recalls her mother’s response whenever someone in their family burped: Excuse the pigs, the hogs went out for a walk. It’s a mild reprimand (or apology, if the speaker is the one who burped), and there are many variations, including Excuse the pig, the hog’s out walking and Excuse the pig, the hog’s around the corner, as well as Excuse the pig, but the hog’s still around. Other versions include Pardon a pig — a hog would know better and another from the United Kingdom: Pardon, Mrs. Arden, there’s a pig in your garden. If you’re out in public, and your companion lets out a belch, you can say Excuse my pig — he’s a friend. One jocular way to acknowledge one’s own burp is to announce Greetings from the interior! or say I don’t remember eating that. This is part of a complete episode.
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...
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