A caller who grew up in Wisconsin says his spouse, who’s from Florida, teases him for such things as pronouncing bagel like “BEG-el” and dagger as “DEG-ger.” They’re just products of his isolect, the regional variants from his particular dialect of...
In sports slang, a horse-collar is “a score of zero,” and to horse-collar an opponent is “to hold them scoreless.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Horse-Collar Score” Here’s another bit of baseball slang: horse collar. Do you...
A middle-school teacher and her students in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, have a question about one girl’s pronunciation of the word bagel. Is this round yeast roll with a hole in the middle pronounced BAY-gull, BAG-ull, or BEG-ull? Although most...
If you’re in England and want some cream cheese to go with your bagel, ask for Philadelphia. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Philadelphia on Your Bagel” I did not know until I was reading Lynn Murphy’s book about the differences...
Martha shares a favorite poem, “The Bagel,” by David Ignatow. Who wouldn’t like to feel “strangely happy with myself”? This and other gems can be found in Billy Collins’ book Poetry 180. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Bagel”...
bagel v.—Gloss: To score no points. Note: The noun “bagel” has long been used in tennis and other sports to mean “zero.” «As usual after a defeat, Venus was tight-lipped, offering platitudes but no explanation as to what happened, especially in the...
