A San Diego, California, listener shares some slang used by her father, who was a Navy fighter pilot. To “bang off the cat” is to take off from an aircraft carrier. The meatball refers to the landing system that requires lining up with an amber...
A caller wonders about the origin of gedunk or geedunk, which means “ice cream” or “a snack bar” where you might buy sweets. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Gedunk Sundae” Hello, you have A Way with Words. This is Barbara Burnett...
tiger cruise n.—Gloss: a trip aboard a military vessel in which sailors are accompanied by friends and family. «The aircraft carrier-like vessel arrived on Friday, picked up family members for what’s known as a “tiger cruise,” and left on Saturday...
nugget n.— «The Greyhound, which looks as if it sprang from the womb of Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, is 50,000 pounds of flying metal that must set itself down on the pitching deck of a ship at 120 knots and come to a complete stop in two seconds...