Right off the bat, it’s easy to think of several everyday expressions that derive from America’s pastime–including “right off the bat.” The Dickson Baseball Dictionary catalogues not only those contributions but also...
The exclamation “crime in Italy” is a variation of criminently, or criminy, both euphemisms for Christ. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Crime in Italy” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Barbara...
Sharing a secret language. Did you ever speak in gibberish with a childhood pal, adding extra syllables to words so the adults couldn’t understand what you were saying? Such wordplay isn’t just for kids—and it’s not just limited to...
Jeezum Crow! is a Vermont and northern New York minced oath, a softened stand-in for Jesus Christ! Chris from Burlington says he grew up using it for surprise or anger, including the very Vermont discovery of fresh overnight snow. The spelling Jesum...
Sure, it’s scary to send your writing to a literary agent. But pity the poor agent who must wade through hundreds of terrible query letters a week! One of them shares excerpts from those hilariously bad query letters on a blog called SlushPile...
Ruth from Hanover, New Hampshire, asks about “Balderdash!”, the dismissive outburst for claims that sound like nonsense. The word’s ancestry remains uncertain, despite old attempts to link it with Danish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, Welsh, or Gaelic...