Alan in Columbia, South Carolina, grew up hearing his grandparents ask who wanted to go juking, meaning to ride around, shop a little, eat something, and hang out with no fixed plan. That family use is a tamer cousin of juke or jook, the word behind...
Trivia time! Where in the United States can you visit Soda City? If you answered Columbia, South Carolina, you’re right! This nickname apparently derives from an old practice of abbreviating Columbia as Cola. The locals then referred to the town as...
Jim in Columbia, South Carolina, has noticed sportscasters’ use of the phrase on the season with reference to a period of time. This construction shows up in the sports pages as early as the 1880s, first referring to a team’s revenue and...
Lisa lives in Columbia, South Carolina, but went to high school in Brockport, New York. There, a certain type of student was called a beeg or beeger. Such a classmate was likely a fan of Iron Maiden, wore their hair in a mullet, and smoked in the...
Ronald in Columbia, South Carolina, hears some people pronounce the word help as if they’re saying hope. There’s a British dialectal version of the past tense of the verb help that is spelled holp or holpen or hope, which have hung on in...
Charlie from Columbia, South Carolina, wonders about a nickname for his state, South Cack. University of North Carolina linguist Bonnie Taylor-Blake has researched this term and its variants extensively. They include Cackalacky, Cackalacka, Calinky...
