Nathan in Raleigh, North Carolina, heard his grandfather, busy making Thanksgiving dinner for the family, describe the work as going steady by jerks. The expression means by fits and starts, with bursts of steady effort broken by pauses or...
When the pressure drops in an airplane cabin and all the oxygen masks fall, pilots refer to all that equipment hanging down as a rubber jungle. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Rubber Jungle Pressure Bundles” The other...
Edward in Atlanta, Georgia, asks about the origin and uses of blah, blah, blah, the sing-song stand-in for omitted or tiresome talk. A single blah can mean dull or listless, as in “feeling blah,” while repeated blahs often replace words a speaker...
In parts of the South, according to the Dictionary of American Regional English, the word mess can denote “a witty, clever, or mischievous person.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Southern Mess” You know...
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a zombiefied puzzle called Dead Reckoning. What’s the problem with putting zombies in the legislature? A deadlocked government! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Zombie Word Puzzle”...
How about the phrase “saddle my nag”? No, this phrase isn’t some obscure bit of jargon from world of finance. It’s an expression familiar to Aussie schoolchildren. Martha explains what it means. This is part of a complete...