Gail in San Diego County, California, has been hearing forms such as I could have went for I could have gone, a ship that had sunken where she expected sank, I was sat, and I was drugged for I was dragged. These don’t all have the same explanation...
Jackie in Massachusetts shares her mishearing the name of the beloved character Mr. Green Jeans on the old Captain Kangaroo TV show. She was in college before she realized his name wasn’t Mr. Cream Cheese. This is part of a complete episode...
Cory in Newark, Ohio, says that while in South Africa, he heard the exclamation shot! used in an empathetic way to mean “that’s so sweet!” or “bless your heart!” In South Africa, the word can be used to express agreement, and in Australia, the...
The multipurpose phrase bless your heart is heard often in the southern United States. Although it sounds polite and solicitous, it often has a cutting edge to it. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “”Bless Your...
Choosing language that helps resolve interpersonal conflict. Sometimes a question is really just a veiled form of criticism and understanding the difference between “ask culture” and “guess culture” can help you know how to...
Scratch an itch is standard, and it’s much more widely accepted than using itch transitively, as in itch my back. Robin in Paris, Virginia, has a movie-night wager riding on the question because his wife insists that the hand does the scratching and...
