Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was supposed to keep thieves away — and some were as vicious as...
Following up on our earlier conversations about what to call grandparents who move house in order to be nearer their grandkids, Martha proposes trailing grandparents, patterened after the term trailing spouse, which refers to a situation where one...
Nate in Winterville, North Carolina, remembers an older relative asking Are you going to get outside of that? meaning “Are you going to finish that meal?” To get outside of a meal or to climb outside of a meal suggests that you’re...
A listener shares a funny childhood misunderstanding: Her four-year-old kept referring to something in the have-in-it. It took a while before she realized the word he meant was cabinet. The family got such a kick out of the boy’s logic that...
Don’t show up with your arms swinging is a way of telling a would-be guest not to show up at their hosts’ empty-handed; they should always bring along a gift. Similar admonitions include Ring the door with your elbow and Come with your...
The new Kinbank database lets you explore the global diversity of family and kinship terms. Compiled by an international team led by anthropologist Sam Passmore from The Australian National University, it’s providing new insights into kinship...