Barack Obama wants to put people to work building roads and bridges. But how about a federal jobs program for out-of-work writers? Also: why do we call it a flight of wine? How did the haircut called a mullet get its name?
What do you call the wheeled contraption that you push around the grocery store? Shopping cart? Shopping carriage? Shopping wagon? Buggy? A former Kentuckian wonders if anyone besides her calls them bascarts. Check out this dialect map featuring...
It’s an easy way to separate New Yorkers from non-New Yorkers: Do you stand on line or in line? A Midwesterner who relocated to the Big Apple wants to know why people there are adamant about waiting on line instead of in line. See a map...
The expression “over yonder” isn’t just the stuff of Carole King songs and old-timey hymns. To many Southerners, it’s everyday English. The hosts discuss this poetic-sounding turn of phrase. This is part of a complete episode...
Ever been met with a quizzical look and the question, “Do what?” The hosts discuss this dialectal equivalent of “How’s that?” or “Come again?” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Do What...
Vicki in Appleton, Wisconsin, grew up outside Minneapolis using kype (also rendered as cipe or kipe) for taking something that wasn’t really yours but didn’t seem important to the adults in charge, such as fort-building materials, with the...