Kyarn, also spelled cyarn, is an Appalachian and Ozark dialect form of carrion, dead or rotting flesh. Jennifer, calling from the public library in Chowan County, North Carolina, heard it from her father, who grew up in eastern Kentucky, in phrases...
Turkey vultures spotted on a hike in San Diego’s Mission Trails Regional Park lead to a small feast of collective nouns for turkey vultures. A group in a tree can be a committee, a venue, or a volt. In flight, it’s a kettle, and when feasting on...
Why call it a doggy bag when it’s really for your husband? Grant and Martha talk about the language of leftovers and why we eat beef and not cow. And how old is the typical public-library patron? Plus, in Afghanistan, proverbs are part of everyday...
Cyarn and kyarn are spellings for a Southern and Appalachian pronunciation of carrion, the rotting flesh of a dead animal. Kenny from Barnesville, Georgia, heard his mother use it for roadkill dragged into the yard by a dog and also more broadly for...
A former West Virginian reports that she grew up hearing a strange word: charny. In her part of the country, she says, it means “dirty” or “filthy,” and she always heard it pronounced “chee-YAR-nee.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
buzzard’s luck n. bad luck. Editorial Note: This term refers specifically to carrion-feeding North American vultures that are called buzzards. The expression is often accompanied by the explanation that a buzzard “can’t kill nothing and nothing will...
