Eileen remembers a nursing-home resident who liked her tea barefoot, meaning without milk or sugar. The slang use goes back at least to the mid-19th century and can also describe plain coffee or liquor taken straight, with evidence from English...
On Twitter, a linguist reports that she and her Russian husband had a humorous misunderstanding about the meaning of the word barefoot. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Barefoot Misunderstanding” One of the things...
“Mind the grease” is a handy phrase to use when you’re trying to sidle through a crowd. It’s found in 1909 volume of English slang called Passing English of the Victorian Era. Speaking of greasy, in those days something...
Slap, slap, slap, slap– the sound of flip-flops on your feet. These floppy-soled shoes go by other names like zoris and thongs, but a caller wonders why in some parts of the country they’re called go-aheads. This is part of a complete...