How early do you have to wake up to see what one listener calls the crack of chicken? It seems to be a twist on the term crack of dawn. Other terms for this early-morning time are o’dark thirty and the scratch of dawn. This is part of a...
chicken riggies n.pl.— «I asked her about a shirt I’d seen in the gift shop that listed something called “chicken riggies” as one of Utica’s claims to fame. She explained that it was a pasta dish—chicken and rigatoni.» —“Beer, There...
What does the expression egg on have to do with chickens? Nothing, actually. Martha explains why, and tells the story of how the term curate’s egg came to mean “something with both good and bad characteristics.”
Chickens give more than eggs, meat, and feathers—they give language!
coop n.— «The troopers man the weigh stations to keep you and the truckers safe. Their job gets even tougher when they’re battling a Web site called Coopsareopen.com. Truck drivers use the term “coops” for weigh stations...
chicken-winging n.— «I get up these routes with little difficulty and practice the rock-climbing techniques of stemming, jamming, crack climbing and chimneying. I even do a technique called chicken-winging, where I press my elbow and palm...