Michelle in Pembroke Pines, Florida wonders why performers wish each other luck with the admonition Break a leg! This practice of wishing the opposite of what you really mean appears across a wide range of theatrical traditions. German performers tell each other Hals- und Beinbruch (literally, “May you break your neck and your leg”) and Italians use the phrase in bocca al lupo (literally, “into the mouth of the wolf”), the response to which is crepi il lupo or “May the wolf die.” Other performers often saytoi toi toi, as if spitting, in an effort to ward off the devil. This is part of a complete episode.
The so-called “lifestyle influencer accent” you hear in videos on TikTok and YouTube, where someone speaks with rising tones at the end of sentences and phrases, suggesting that they’re about to say something important, is a form of what linguists...
Meg in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, gets why the state highway department encourages drivers to use their blinkers when changing lanes, but placing a digital sign at the Sagamore Bridge that reads Use Ya Blinkah is, well, a lexical bridge too far. Meg’s...
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