Debbie in Boulder, Colorado, says that while watching K-dramas, she often hears Korean-speaking characters urge someone on with an exclamation that means something like “Go get ’em!” or “Good luck!” and sounds like the word Fighting! It’s an example of Konglish, a combination of Korean and English, often transliterated as Hwaiting! or Paiting! On his blog Gusts of Popular Feeling, Matt VanVolkenburg reports tracing its use back more than half a century. This is part of a complete episode.
It’s hard to remember how to spell the names of some cities. Tallahassee, Florida, for example. Then there are towns with very few letters to remember. Y, a tiny town in northern France, has only two main streets, which come together to form...
On a busy day in the emergency room, Alisa of Dallas, Texas, told an efficient colleague that she was really humming, meaning it as a compliment. Her colleague took offense, maintaining that humming meant “smelly.” Since the 18th...
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