Megan from Savannah, Georgia, is curious about a phrase her father used: down cellar behind the axe, a phrase whose meaning she never quite understood. Down cellar, meaning “down in the cellar,” is common in New England and the Canadian Maritimes...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been pondering the -ly often found at the of adverbs, and that inspired him to craft a puzzle about words that seem to be adverbs, but aren’t. For example, what fake adverb is suggested by this clue: Like a sudden charge...
Since the 13th century, the adjective wicked has meant “bad” or “evil.” So why do people in New England use wicked as an intensifying adverb to mean “very” or “extremely”? This is part of a complete...
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...
Amanda in Reno, Nevada, has a dispute with her husband. Is it okay to ask if something is any comfortable? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Is It Okay to Ask if Someone Is “Any Comfortable”?” Hello, you have...
Will in Austin, Texas, feels a little odd every time he uses the expression funnily enough. Although the phrase is grammatically correct, it still feels awkward to say. In part, that’s because the adjective funny ends in the letter Y, but...