Jordan from Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada, says that when he used the word gitch, his colleagues from the United States had no idea it meant “underwear.” The second edition of A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles has a great entry...
A high-school teacher in Fort Worth, Texas, wonders about the origin of the term honky. This word is widely considered impolite, and likely derives from various versions of the term hunky or hunyak used to disparage immigrants from Eastern Europe...
John Chaneski’s Word Olympics quiz is a pantheon of wordplay events, with medals optional and pedantry encouraged. Clues range from two-letter Scrabble-legal surprise sounds to the name for grotesque stone figures that don’t channel rainwater, plus...
Crispie n.— «They have bought so much property in England, Spain and in countries in Eastern Europe that they have been dubbed Crispies—short for cash-rich Irish seeking properties in Europe.» —“An Irish Taste for Real Estate in Manhattan” by...