Jim in Columbia, South Carolina, has noticed sportscasters’ use of the phrase on the season with reference to a period of time. This construction shows up in the sports pages as early as the 1880s, first referring to a team’s revenue and...
Will from Lexington, Kentucky, has a long-running dispute with his girlfriend. Is it appropriate to call the machine that launders your clothing a clothes-washing machine rather than just a washing machine? And why do we call the machine that cleans...
A San Diego, California, 12-year-old whose last name is Jones wonders: Why do so many African-Americans as well as European Americans share the same last name? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Common Name...
The Vatican has a long list of new Latin terms invented to denote things in the modern world, such as umbrella descensoria (“parachute) and ludus follis ovati (literally, “oval ball inflated with wind,” otherwise known as rugby)...
Apparently, in English-speaking places outside North America, American football is sometimes jokingly called handegg or hand-egg, a jab at a sport named football even though the ball is carried and shaped more like an egg. The contrast is with the...
What does it mean to call for tender? This British phrase for soliciting a job is rarely seen in the United States, though tender, from the Latin for “to stretch or hold forth,” is used in North America in two different senses: “to...