Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude, meaning some “undetermined place.” There’s a small town in Germany called Buxtehude, and Germans use the expression aus Buxtehude to mean “from the boondocks” or “in the middle of nowhere.” The town also figures in the story of “The Hare and the Hedgehog” from Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Bookshop|Amazon). Buxtehude is also fancifully described as the place where dogs bark with their tails. This is part of a complete episode.
What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That’s the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children’s book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. This is part of a...
If someone’s got melon, it means they’re smart. The expression most likely arose because of the resemblance between a melon and a human head. Several other foods are associated with having brains, including a cabbage, a gourd, and even a...
Subscribe to the fantastic A Way with Words newsletter!
Martha and Grant send occasional messages with language headlines, event announcements, linguistic tidbits, and episode reminders. It’s a great way to stay in touch with what’s happening with the show.
