Jasmine from Miami, Florida, asks about the word boo as a term of endearment, as in Alicia Keys’ song “My Boo.” This use of boo has been especially common in Black English since the 1980s, occupying the same affectionate space as honey or baby. The...
In Mexico, echar un coyotito — literally, “throw a little coyote” — means “to take a short nap.” In Venezuela, it’s more common to talk about a quick snooze using echar un zorrito, the word zorrito being a diminutive for zorro, or “fox.” This is...
Quincy from Bozeman, Montana, wonders how burritos came to be named with a Spanish word that means “little donkey.” In Spanish, the meaning of burro has also extended from “donkey” to “sawhorse.” In the case of the tortilla-wrapped comfort food...
Diminutive suffixes, Donnie for Don, change the meaning of a name to something smaller, cuter, or sweeter. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Diminutive Suffixes” Hi there, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Scott Rickard calling...
flymph n.— «Leafing through this little book, I was struck by the naturalness of the flies, some of which resembled the modern, soft-hackle “flymph” patterns popularized by Vernon S. Hidy. The blackened hooks were mostly sizes 12 and 14, but a few...
pollito n.— «A section of Greyhound’s “Transportation of Illegal Aliens” guidelines that deals with how to identify an immigrant smuggler cautions em ployees to be on the lookout for people who use the Spanish word pollito —the diminutive form of...
