Aaron in Los Angeles, California, notes while using public transit in Britain he and other passengers were instructed to alight from the front, meaning “exit the car from the front.” Alight comes from an Old English word alihtan, literally, to...
Juice in Genoa, New York, remembers her mother used to say I am so mad I could spit nickels. It’s one of several variations on the idea of being angry enough to spit, period, or to spit something specific, such as spit tacks, spit nails, spit...
Two examples of adynaton, the rhetorical term for playful exaggeration suggesting that something will never happen, involve animals’ tails. One German expression translates as “It’ll happen when the hounds start barking with their...
After she added to his unusual collection of photos of relatives riding camels, Douglas in Thomasville, Georgia, wonders whether his brother’s granddaughter is his great-niece or his grandniece. Both terms are widely acceptable for that relationship...
daddy doula n.— «Although his doula practice is just starting up, Mr. Kass says at least one family has sought him out specifically because he’s a man, and female doulas have welcomed him, with few exceptions. It may be the way he markets...
ice cream plant n.— «There are certain ice cream plants, as we like to call them, that camels focus on and they probably have the ability to possibly eliminate some of the species from particular areas.» —“The World Today; Amorous...