grunt
v.— «Gary Revell gets up every morning before sunrise, heads into the woods and grunts. Not because it’s so early. It’s the term for coaxing worms from the ground by the hundreds to be scooped up and plopped in a tin can until he can sell them for fishing bait. He pounds a two-foot wooden “stob” or stake into the earth and rubs it with a 10-pound piece of flat iron. The vibration or “grunting” causes worms to panic, and they wriggle from the ground. For years it was just a guess why.» —“Moles, not magic, makes worm ‘grunting’ work” by Brenda Farrington in Tate’s Hell, Florida Associated Press June 12, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle is about common bonds that connect three things. For example, what’s the one word that links the following trio of terms? A report card, USDA inspected beef, and an incline. This is part of a complete episode...
A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who’s there? Boo. Well… you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goofy jokes were a brand-new craze sweeping the nation...