Here’s a variant of a phrase that’s familiar to many African-Americans, but virtually unknown to most others: “I’m so broke I couldn’t buy a louse a wrestling jacket.” What’s its meaning and origin...
Sandy from Fort Worth grew up hearing Oklahoma relatives call dragonflies snake doctors. It isn’t just a family expression: snake doctor is a traditional folk name, tied to an old tale that dragonflies follow snakes and sew them up when they’re hurt...
Whoever wrote “The Book of Love” neglected to include the handy emoticon <3, which looks like a heart if you turn your head sideways. Grant and Martha talk about how that bit of affectionate shorthand can function as a verb, and about...
phenomenalia n.— «What hath The Wiggles wrought? In the etymology of pop-culture phenomenalia, crystallized with the Aussie happy-feet band in the colored skivvies, born of the wistful singalongs in the original MM Club—M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U...
It started as a typo for “own,” now it’s entrenched in online slang. A Kentucky caller is curious about pwn. It rhymes with “own” and means “to defeat” or “to triumph over.” Our hosts talk about...
Lynn from mid-Michigan reviews study-abroad scholarship essays and keeps seeing applicants say they want to be submerged in the culture. The word they probably want is immersed: both immerse and submerge can involve being in water, but their...