During a live appearance on Louisiana’s Red River Radio, a listener introduced Martha to a phrase worth savoring: when the moistures meet. In the world of traditional farming, where the moistures meet refers to the moment when soil moisture and...
The father of one of Martha’s friends had all sorts lots of funny sayings, like the one he’d use during a lull in a conversation: “Do you live around here or do you ride a bicycle?” He’d also respond to, “Are you ready to leave?” with “I stay ready...
The US Southern nickname whistle britches likely started with corduroy trousers, whose wales make a soft whistling or swishing sound as a wearer walks. Marshall from Point, Texas, heard his East Texas grandfather use it for men who seemed...
Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine...
Tracy from Sherman, Texas, wonders why her dad always used cabbage as a verb to mean “to pilfer or swipe.” This term goes back to at least the 18th century, when the verb to cabbage had to do with employee theft. Specifically, it referred to the way...
A Dallas listener is struck by the fact that Texans talk about East Texas, North Texas, South Texas, and West Texas. So why, she wonders, do people in other states say things like Southern Indiana and Northern California? This is part of a complete...