The verb greissel, also spelled greisle, means to “disgust,” “sicken” or “irritate,” as in That greissels me or I stayed greisseled about that for a long time. Greissel comes from a family of German words that describe things that are repellent...
Keep the ishpee out of your mouth. One caller’s parents used to shout “Ishpee!” when he or his siblings would try and eat dirt, marbles, or whatever they found on the floor. He wonders if this expression is unique to his family. It...
shitasmia n.— «It’s so terrible, it induces an entirely new emotion: a blend of vertigo, disgust, anger and embarrassment which I like to call “shitasmia.” It not only creates this emotion: it defines it. It’s the most...
Helen in Las Vegas, originally from Glasgow, grew up saying she had taken the scunner to someone when a crush suddenly curdled into disgust, irritation, and even a little fear. As a noun, scunner can mean revulsion or loathing, and a miserable...
micro-expression n.— «The TSA aims to have 500 “behavior detection officers” (BDOs) in airports by the end of this year. The job of the BDOs will be that of examining passengers for “body language and facial cues…...
A caller named Holly confesses that there’s a word that practically makes her break out in hives every time she hears it. Grant assures her she’s not alone in her aversion to the word—Holly, cover your eyes—moist. Grant and Martha...