A cumshaw artist is that clever, resourceful person in a military unit who always seems to manage to procure whatever’s needed. This term apparently derives from similar-sounding words in Mandarin, kan hsieh, or kam-si?, in the language spoken...
Pickthank is an archaic, literary word for a person who curries favor by informing against someone else. The term goes back at least to 1460. Noah Webster defined a pick-thank as “a whispering parasite” or “an officious fellow.” It overlaps with...
A listener reports being puzzled by a phrase she heard from a woman for whom she’d done a small favor: Did you think you’d taken me to raise? Heard mainly in Kentucky and Ohio, this phrase is a joking suggestion that the person who has done the...
You dream of writing the great American novel, but to make ends meet, you spend your days writing boring corporate reports. There’s a difference between writing for love and writing for a living — or is there? Does a heyday have anything to do with...
To spit someone a big is to do someone a favor. Try that one out on your boss! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of ““Spit Someone a Big” Idiom” A little low-level slang for you, Martha. Low-level? Well, it’s safe. Okay. I’m going to...
Catherine from Dallas asks about I don’t cotton to, meaning something isn’t to one’s taste or that someone doesn’t get along with it. The expression is often heard as Southern US English, but the verb cotton goes back hundreds of years in England...