Chris from Harrisonburg, Virginia, grew up in Pittsburgh saying jaggin around or jagging around for goofing off, teasing, or playing tricks. This classic Pittsburghese term is tied to the old verb jag, “to prick, stab, or jab,” so the teasing sense...
Eleemosynary is the title of a play by Lee Blessing. The play celebrates this and other unusual words, including sortilege, charivari, ungulate, favonian, and logodaedaly. Martha saw a production at San Diego’s Moxie Theater, and takes the...
Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a quiz about famous trios. Try this one: “Steve Martin, Martin Short, and ___________?” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Famous Trios Quiz” You’re listening to A Way with Words...
buildinglet n.— «If you’ve ever parked by the marina in Flushing to see a Mets game, you may have been struck by the whimsy and drama of two white shelters that sit by the bay, structures that look as if their creator had been issued the...
dramasplosion n.— «So the explosion of drama (or as I like to call it, dramasplosion!) that followed the Fall Out Boy article in Blender has been rocking Buzznet for the past few days. And now, it looks like two of the boys in the band...
bang-bang n.— «One reason that this particular conflict attracts so much unqualified attention is because it is incredibly easy to cover while at the same time providing the necessary drama and “bang-bang” (newsroom slang for combat...
