It’s such a delight to hear Yankee legend Yogi Berra deliver his Yogisms that it’s easy to overlook the fact that he likely didn’t make up most of them. Of course, that doesn’t make lines like “You can observe a lot by watching” any less profound. But if you’re interested in the accuracy of quotes attributed to him or someone else, start with linguist Garson O’Toole’s Quote Investigator. This is part of a complete episode.
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A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...