Particularly in the African-American community, the affectionate term son is often used for more than just young male offspring—most anyone can be addressed as son. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Addressing as “Son”” Hello, you...
To reef something, means to “tug hard” or “push vigorously,” as you might with a window that’s stuck. It comes from the sailing term reef, which refers to an action used to make a sail smaller. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Bathroom walls, missing graffiti, and social media. Where have all the cute quips on bathroom stalls gone? We wonder about the apparent decline of restroom graffiti. Are people saving their witticisms for Twitter and Facebook? And: If there were a...
A hootenanny, commonly thought of as a party in Appalachia, is also a term for German pancakes. But when you look in the Dictionary of American Regional English, you’ll notice that hootenanny is synonymous with doohickey or thingamajig, and can...
Finna, a slang variant of “fixing to,” meaning “to be about to do something,” has been widely distributed through hip-hop lyrics. Its formation is similar to gonna, from “going to.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Slang “Finna””...
When somebody sneezes, we say bless you or gesundheit. But suppose that person coughs. Are you supposed to say something — or are they? Plus, Mexican standoffs, gracious plenty, linguistic false friends, southpaw vs. northpaw, the slang of rabbit...
