Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...
A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what’s the flash part of that word about? Also, if you’re a nervous Nellie, you’re skittish and indecisive—both characteristics of an American politician who earned that nickname in the...
A native Texan says his Canadian wife teases him about his use of hitten for a past participle, as in You have hitten every green light instead of You have hit every green light. Charles Mackay’s 1888 work, A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch, does...
dirt-baller n.— «Still, long gone is the time when anyone could suggest that Nadal was a clay-court specialist, what some Americans call “a dirt-baller.”» —“Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer win in Monaco” by Mark...
Kro-ghetto n.—Gloss: A supermarket in the Kroger chain of stores. «They leave no class behind, ranging from the luxuriously large Whole Foods version to the one-dollar polyester deal available at the grocery store in my neighborhood...
gay-marry v.—Gloss: To join a person of the same sex in marriage. «I think I just gay-married @jasonpermenter. Roy Wood conducted the ceremony, Chris Squire was best man, and Dean Ween was my maid of honor.» —by Merlin...
