Is the expression beck and call or beckon call? What’s a beck? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Beck and Call” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello, this is Mara Spring. I’m calling from Wisconsin. Hi...
Keith in San Diego grew up in South Louisiana saying get down to mean getting out of a car, as in asking passengers whether everyone is getting down. In Cajun country, that use is likely a calque, a direct translation from French, where descendre...
Which is correct for describing a close family resemblance: spittin’ image or spit and image? Grant and Martha discuss the possible origins of these expressions, including a recent hypothesis that’s sure to surprise. This is part of a...
Say you have a particularly rambunctious child. Okay, a little hellion. Is it proper to describe the little devil as a holy terror? Or might it be more correct and more logical to call him an unholy terror? A Los Angeles caller thinks it’s the...
Paula in Indianapolis asks about hairy eyeball, the scowling, squinty look her parents gave her brother. Slang dictionaries record the phrase, with evidence going back at least 40 or 50 years, though earlier examples may exist. It doesn’t appear to...
If someone calls you dibby, should you be flattered or insulted? You’d know if you were in college a century ago—it’s outdated college slang! Also, we are voluntold to play a word puzzle about Unknown Superheroes!