Allie in Decatur, Alabama, says her mother referred to an impish child as a schnickelfritz. This term for a “young rascal” is often used affectionately, and spelled any of several ways, including snicklefritz, snickelfritz, and schnickelfritz. It’s...
A bloodynoun or a bloodnoun isn’t a lesser-known part of speech. In the Southeastern United States, a bloodnoun is “a bullfrog.” This term is likely echoic, related to a similar term in the Gullah language. This is part of a complete episode...
Jackie is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, but discovered when she moved to Chesapeake, Virginia, that people in her new hometown were puzzled by her use of pony keg to mean “convenience store.” It’s a term that’s closely associated with that...
Eva in Fairbanks, Alaska, wonders why her grandmother used to say raise the window down when she wanted someone to open that window. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Raise the Window Down” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello...
A Texas caller says her West Virginia-born mother uses the word hornicaboogery to mean “germs” or “the creeping crud.” Among the many such joking names for imaginary illnesses are gollywobbles, collywobbles, carlymarbles, pantod on the rummit, can’t...
In parts of the United States, the verb to build is used to mean prepare a food or beverage, so you might build a coffee or build a lemon pie. This use of to build appears in a lot of literature of the Old West. This is part of a complete episode...
