The expression tight as a tick is inspired by the idea of being full-to-bursting, like one of those insects when it’s engorged with blood. Tight as a tick can also describe someone who’s quite drunk or very miserly. Other phrases that connote...
In southeastern Virginia, a come-here is “an outsider” or “someone who recently moved to the area.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A “Come-Here” in Virginia” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Melinda Blanchard calling...
Rob calls from the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia to discuss the lingo of crabbing. A male blue crab is a jimmy, and a female is called a sook, a silk, or sow. A crab that’s unsuitable for market because its flesh isn’t firm, it’s called a snot. A...
leaky crop n.— «Corn is what scientists call a leaky crop. When it’s fertilized, it cannot absorb one hundred percent of the nutrients we give it.» —“Chesapeake Bay Funds Added To Farm Bill” by Alex DeMetrick WJZ-TV (Baltimore, Maryland) Apr. 30...
flush tax n.— «The U.S. Department of Defense has agreed to spend $22 million upgrading its wastewater- treatment plants throughout Maryland in lieu of paying the Ehrlich administration’s “flush tax”—a move that ends nearly two years of legal...