Some TV commercials launch catchphrases that stick around long after the original ads. The exclamation Good stuff, Maynard! is still a compliment almost 40 years after it was used in a commercial for Malt-O-Meal hot cereal. And: what do you call...
Katie in the Northwoods of Wisconsin knows jonard as the shame that follows having brought trouble on yourself, not merely an embarrassing accident. It’s connected with Jonah and joner, dialect words for a jinx, a pest, or someone who brings bad...
Chris in Ithaca, New York, contends that English needs a word that packs the same punch as the Spanish word vergüenza, usually translated as “shame,” but conveying more than that. Vergüenza derives from Latin verecundia, which specifies...
Emilia from Chicago, Illinois, says a co-worker used the phrase get the Motts to denote the feeling of second-hand embarrassment she feels for someone when watching a cringeworthy performance. The phrase I got the Motts became a catchphrase in the...
Evelyn in Wilmington, North Carolina, says that when she and her older sister were sassy to their parents, her mother would say either You’re getting too big for your britches or I’m going to bring you down a buttonhole lower. The former...
Anna in Dallas, Texas, doubts her fiancée Sarah’s family word biffed it, but Sarah has the dictionaries on her side: to biff it can mean to fall, especially in an embarrassing way. Sarah grew up hearing it from her grandmother and aunt, including...