spiedie n. a food dish of marinated meat chunks, usually cooked on a skewer and sometimes eaten as a sandwich. Also spiedi. Editorial Note: This word in the US appears to be special to New York State near Binghamton and Syracuse. Etymological Note: Probably from the Italian spiedino ‘a skewer’ or spiedo ‘a spit.’ (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Kelly from Butte, Montana, recalls that when a few morsels remained at the end of a meal, her grandmother would say, Make it a nice day tomorrow, meaning everyone should eat all their food. A version used by a childhood friend’s family was Make it a...
Jill from Greenville, South Carolina, wants to know why pickle automatically means “pickled cucumber,” as opposed to other pickled vegetables, such as onions and carrots. The answer has to do with prototypicality, the cultural agreement that one...