John in Cincinnati, Ohio, says that if something seems unsurprising to him, he’ll say sarcastically Color me surprised. John is sincerely surprised to learn that the color me X construction, where X is any adjective, goes back to a 1962 bestseller...
A third-grade teacher from Michigan reports that one of her young students pronounced the word crayon as “crown.” There’s more than one regional variant in the United States, though. Others include “CRAY-ahn,” “CRAY-awn,” and “CRAN.” This is part of...
shut up and color v. phr. mind one’s own business, keep one’s head down, do as one is told. Editorial Note: Most often used as a dismissive command toward someone perceived to be uninformed, inexperienced, or unimportant. The 1980 citation is...
