Alan, who grew up in eastern North Carolina, says his mother used the word jubous to mean “leery” or “skeptical.” Variously spelled jubous, jubus, dubous, dubus, or some similar version, jubous is simply an adaptation of the word dubious. It’s primarily heard in the American South, but also exists in several dialects of English, and in Scotland. This is part of a complete episode.
The cardboard cylinder left after the last sheet of toilet, tissue, or wrapping paper comes off the roll has inspired families to make up a lot of names for the tube or the sounds you can make with it. These include oh-ah, oh-ah, drit-drit, dah-dah...
A native Texan says his Canadian wife teases him about his use of hitten for a past participle, as in You have hitten every green light instead of You have hit every green light. Charles Mackay’s 1888 work, A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch, does...
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