Leslie from Hickory, North Carolina, is curious about an expression her grandmother used when the weather was particularly warm. Leslie never saw the expression spelled out, but she guesses it was hot as bringup, and pronounced with a soft g. Was that saying uniquely hers? The more common version is hot as brinjer, an expression that’s likely related to the Scots word breenge, which as a verb means “to rush forward recklessly” and as a noun means “a punch” or “a blow.” In the Scots language, a breengin is “a beating.” In Southern Appalachian dialect, brinjer appears in comparative phrases expressing something extreme, such as hot as brinjer, cold as brinjer, and in statements such as today’s a brinjer or it’s brinjin’ cold today. This is part of a complete episode.
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To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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