Following our conversation about the use of the term devil strip to denote the strip of land between sidewalk and street, listeners chimed in with other terms from their areas. In Portland, Maine, some people call it a hell strip. In Washington...
Scrabblepoor means “extremely poor,” conjuring the image of farmers having to scrape together a living by literally scratching at the dirt. The word hardscrabble is more commonly used to describe such grinding poverty. This is part of a complete...
How dry is it? In the middle of a drought, you might answer that question is “So dry the trees are bribing the dogs.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Drought Humor” I was talking to a Texan about how dry the weather has been out...
What Americans call a cold draft, the British call a cold draught. Noah Webster deserves most of the responsibility for changing the British spelling. Regardless of how they’re spelled, both words rhyme with “daft,” not “drought.” This is part of a...
hail cannon n.— «He also has what’s called a hail cannon, which uses a sonic boom to bombard hailstones so they break up and are less damaging to fruit.» —“Drought creates thirst for hi-tech farming” in Sydney, Australia Earthtimes.org Nov. 2, 2007...
zero one zero n.— «We saw signs of malnutrition in children, and adults suffering from hunger fatigue. Some of the people we stayed with are normally eating what is called “zero one zero”—no breakfast, a basic lunch and nothing in the evening. This...