Yasha, who grew up speaking Russian, recalls phrase used to comfort a child after a small mishap like a skinned knee. The phrase translates as “It will heal in time for the wedding,” and Yasha had assumed it was solely Slavic. So he was surprised to...
Lee in Charleston, South Carolina, remembers her dad used to refer to a blue patch of sky after a rain as kitten’s britches. Similar terms include Dutchman’s trousers, old woman’s apron, and cat’s vest, all suggesting that...
Christine in Charleston, South Carolina, recounts a funny story about someone who was planning to go commando, meaning “to go without underwear.” What’s the origin of that phrase? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Janine in Charleston, South Carolina, grew up in the little coal mining villages of southwestern Pennsylvania, where her grandparents and parents called slovenly neighbors feather merchants. To her, the term meant trashy or lazy, a label she heard...
A North Carolina listener says that when he was a boy and asked for something at a store that his father didn’t want to buy, his dad would reply Not today, Josephine. The origins of this phrase are unclear, although there is a story that it...
A native New Yorker who lived as a boy with his grandmother in South Carolina recalls coming home late one day and offering a long-winded excuse, prompting his grandmother to declare, “Boy, you’re as deep as the sea!” She probably...
