Dan in South Bend, Indiana, wonders about the phrase good egg, meaning “a good-natured, kind person.” The expression good egg was preceded by bad egg, that is, a literal egg determined to be undesirable by viewing it close to a candle. Bad apple, on...
Katie, a biology professor in San Diego, California, reports that her students use low-key in ways she’s not used to hearing, as in I was low-key lost in class today, meaning “I was sort of lost in class today.” Linguists Pamela Monroe at the...
Spondulix, also spelled spondulicks and spondolux, is a slang term for money. Mark Twain used it in Huckleberry Finn, although it had been around for a while before that. The word may derive from the Greek word spondylos, meaning “vertebra” or...
You pick up what you think a glass of water and take a sip, but it turns out to be Sprite. What’s the word for that sensation when you’re expecting one thing and taste something else? Also, slang from college campuses, like ratchet and dime piece...
A lunch hook, in college slang from a century ago, meant “a hand”–as in, “I’m going to hook my finger through this doughnut hole.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Lunch Hook” I bet you can guess in college slang from 100 years ago...
If someone’s a dime piece or a dime, they’re mighty attractive — as in, a perfect 10. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “You’re a Dime” Here’s a bit of college slang I like that’s been around for a while. Dime piece or a dime. Yeah...
