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...
A Texan says his grandmother used to refer to the thigh of a chicken as the “second joint.” Martha and Grant discuss whether it’s a regional term. By the way, if you want to know the French term Martha mentions that roughly...
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...
A caller is curious about an expression her father liked to use “off in the giggleweeds.” What’s a giggleweed? And no, he didn’t mean marijuana. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Off in the...
On an earlier episode we talked about regional differences involving the words dinner and supper, prompting a whole smorgasbord of responses. Grant reads a few of them on the air. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Dinner and...
