Jiffy from Atlanta, Georgia, relates a story about a smelly road trip cooped up with her dog Moxie, who’s been sprayed the night before by a skunk. In recounting the story, she realized she hadn’t used the word skunked since she played cribbage with...
Puzzling over the New York Times Spelling Bee, Jordan in Cheyenne, Wyoming, played the word pipped, but was surprised that the game disallowed it. He remembers hearing the word in stories about the historic 1954 Miracle Mile race between Sir Roger...
A restaurant manager in Kokomo, Indiana, had an employee who failed to show up for work. This left him wondering about the phrase left in the lurch. It probably derives from an old game similar to backgammon called lourche, the object of which is to...
Tight games often end up at a rubber match, or tiebreaker. Used for a variety of sports and card games, rubber match has been in use since the late 16th century, and seem to have originated in the game of lawn bowling. This is part of a complete...
