Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence still had to communicate about everyday activities in the monastery, from gardening to equipment repair. So they developed their own hand signs, with hundreds of gestures for various words and ideas...
We take our voices for granted, but it’s truly miraculous that we communicate complex thoughts simply by moving our mouths while exhaling. A fascinating new book reveals the science, history, and linguistics involved in human speech. And...
Will, an emergency medical technician in Queens, New York, offers this bit of lingo from his line of work: skell, meaning a “lowlife.” In South African slang, the word skelm means the same thing. Will and his colleagues also use the term skell gel...
Kimberly in Harrisonburg, Virginia, grew up with a family breakfast called scorns, pieces of biscuit dough fried in a pan and served with butter. The origin is uncertain. No clear food-word evidence turns up for scorn as a dish, but the family word...
Jennifer, an elementary-school teacher in Tallahassee, Florida, loves saying the term chockablock, meaning “closely packed together,” and wonders about its etymology. Chock can refer to a kind of wedge used to hold something in place...
Karen in Tucson, Arizona, heard biffy at a youth camp, where a jeweled plunger marked the award for the cleanest outhouse. The camp explanation, Bathroom in Forest for You, has the smell of a backronym, which means it was made after biffy already...