The phrases “Who let the hawk out?” and “The hawk is flying tonight” both mean “there’s a chilly wind blowing.” This saying is almost exclusive to the African-American community and is associated with that Windy City, Chicago. This is part of a...
Pallet, in Southern and South Midland speech, can mean a makeshift bed on the floor, like the one Angela remembered making as a child in Texas. The blues and folk standard “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor,” recorded by artists including Mississippi...
“Great Googly Moogly!” A caller wonders where that exclamation comes from.
Mike from San Diego asks about stingaree, a name once used for part of the city’s red-light district and later revived by a swank downtown nightclub. The word could refer to a stingray, but it also had seedier slang senses: a shortchanging con game...