Are your nightstand books all over the place? Why not stack ’em into a bookmash? A bookmash is a kind of found poetry formed from book titles! And we all know that honesty is the best policy. But does that mean you should correct the grammar of your...
Remember the classic films Dogumentary and $3000? Those were their working titles, before they became Best In Show and Pretty Woman. We look at how movie titles evolve and change. Also, is Spanglish a real language? And balaclavas, teaching your...
If a fellow thinks he’s a cooler than he really is, he’d be known in the South as a dirt road sport. This term’s been defined as “a country boy showing off in a Saturday afternoon town,” and refers to someone reaching...
Does the expression petered out have to do with the Apostle Peter denying he knew Jesus? No, “petered out” may derive from the French peter, meaning to “pass gas.” Another theory is that the expression originated in mining...
Gradoo, also spelled as gradu, means miscellaneous dirt, sludge, grit, or other gunk you’d rather not step in. Reed in Madison, Wisconsin, grew up hearing it in Louisiana from both English and Cajun French speakers. Its origin is uncertain, but one...
Does your family have a word for the cardboard tube left over from a roll of toilet paper? A caller says his family refers to them Oh-ah, Oh-ahs. Turns out many families have their own terms for them, including drit-drit, dawda dawda, hoo-hoo, to...
