Shawn, who lives in Washington State, is used to hearing the phrase right up your alley to describe something that’s particularly fitting for someone. Then she heard a British vlogger use the phrase right up your street in the same way. Since...
Wayne in Sherman, Texas, wonders how the term pear-shaped came to describe something that’s gone badly. The expression seems to have arisen during the Falklands War of the early 1980s. If you need a word for pear-shaped, there’s always pyriform...
If you think they refer to umbrellas as bumbershoots in the UK, think again. The word bumbershoot actually originated in the United States! In Britain, it’s prolly a brolly. • Also: snow-grooming language, more than one way to say bagel...
In the US, if you step on a piece of Lego, you scream bloody murder; in the UK, you step on a piece of Lego and scream blue murder. Also, in the US, you eat scrambled eggs; in the UK, it’s scrambled egg. This is part of a complete episode...
Which is correct, toward or towards, meaning in the direction of? If you’re in the United States, the far more common term is toward. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Towards vs. Toward” Hello, you have A Way with...
Diego from Orange County, California, wonders: How did George Washington sound when speaking? We can make guesses about his speech, accent, and dialect based on the historical context. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “How Did...