Jerome in Fort Worth, Texas, was surprised to order pully bacon for breakfast at a restaurant, only to find that the restaurant workers had no idea what he meant. He’s long used that term for bacon that’s not crispy and brittle but has a somewhat rubbery texture that invites a little tug with the teeth. Pully is often used to describe food, such as monkey bread and pizza. Bill Neal’s cookbook Biscuits, Spoonbread & Sweet Potato Pie (Bookshop|Amazon) includes a mention of pully biscuits and rolls. 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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