A woman who grew up in Detroit remembers her mother saying, “This one’s going to be a real blinger!” whenever a big storm was coming. What exactly is a blinger? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Real...
Ahoy, mateys! You've received another newsletter from "A Way with Words," which, like a walk around the promenade deck, is known to relieve uncomfortable internal distress. What do children call their grandparents? What is a...
Tom in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, asks about catawampus, cattywampus, or kittywampus, words used for something crooked, askew, or out of line. The Dictionary of American Regional English records related senses including “diagonally across,” “utterly or...
Faunching around, Donna from El Cajon, California’s family term for squirming fussily or impatiently, isn’t unique to them. The Dictionary of American Regional English records faunch by 1970 meaning to fret or show irritation or impatience. An older...
What’s a dittler? What’s a dit? A traveling preacher named Fred says he’s heard these strange terms in parts of Appalachia used to refer to “baby chicks” and “little ducklings.” We share some of our own...
Stand back! It's another newsletter from A Way with Words. This past weekend on A Way with Words we talked about crossword puzzles. This coming weekend superstar solvers from across the continent will gather in Brooklyn, New York, to test their...