Among Grant’s candidates for his 2014 Words of the Year list are the phrases “I can’t even” and “Can you not.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “I Can’t Even” I know the...
Like the boy when the calf ran over him, “I had nothing to say,” is an old saying describing someone who’s speechless, and goes back to the mid-19th century. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Nothing to...
The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What’s the best way to use a thesaurus? DON’T —...
When the crest of a rooster’s comb falls down toward their beak, they appear sad, or crestfallen. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Crestfallen” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello, this is Kate. Hi, Kate...
“Whistling girls and cackling hens always come to some bad end,” said people in the olden days regarding transgressive women. A variation on this saying pops up in a 1911 book called Folk-Lore of Women by one Reverend Thomas Thiselton...
A 1904 dialect collection tipped us off to this variation on the idea of going to the land of milk and honey: “Going to find the honey spring and the flitter tree,” flitter being a variant of fritter, as in something fried and delicious...