Humorist Roy Blount Jr. stops by to try his hand at a slang quiz specifically about Southernisms.
Bubbler, meaning water fountain, is strongly associated with eastern Wisconsin and Rhode Island, where John from Minneapolis grew up saying it as bubbla. One early trail leads to the Kohler Company in Wisconsin, which introduced a bubbling valve...
No, it’s not the neurological effect of spending too much time researching odd new terms. Slang jang is a tongue-tickling sauce found in East Texas. For more about slang jang, including recipes, check out etymologist Barry Popik’s site...
A woman who grew up in Detroit remembers her mother saying, “This one’s going to be a real blinger!” whenever a big storm was coming. What exactly is a blinger? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Real...
What do you call the strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk? Depending on where you live, you may call it a tree lawn, a berm, a city strip, the parking, or one of a host of other regional terms for it. In a small part of the country...
Faunching around, Donna from El Cajon, California’s family term for squirming fussily or impatiently, isn’t unique to them. The Dictionary of American Regional English records faunch by 1970 meaning to fret or show irritation or impatience. An older...