The owner of a Berlin, Maryland, produce stand wants to know: When a customer is buying four ears of corn, should they say I have four corn or I have four ears of corn? Corn is a mass noun that can also be counted as a plural, just as we might say I...
Here’s an unparalleled misalignment, with a punning payoff: sickness pay and coffee. (Get it?) This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Also Green Card?” Here’s another one of those unparalleled misalignments. Sickness pay and coffee...
Among the words added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2024 is babyccino, “a children’s drink consisting of hot milk that has been frothed up with pressurized steam so as to resemble a cappuccino.” Originating in Australia, this term has been...
In the late 1800s, waitresses at the Harvey House chain of restaurants at railroad stops across the American West employed a cup code. One server would ask customers about their preferred beverages, then briskly arrange their cups on the table...
Barbara in Jacksonville, Florida, recalls her grandmother saying she liked her coffee strong enough to tote double and kick up behind. The expression tote double refers to the action of a horse carrying two people. If a horse is able to kick up...
If something is saucered and blowed, it’s completed. The expression derives from an old tradition of pouring a bit of boiling coffee or tea into a deep saucer, and blowing on the liquid to make it cool enough to drink. This is part of a complete...
