When describing shoes, which is correct: close-toe, close-toed, or closed-toe? And what about forms of footwear that leave those pedal digits exposed? Open-toe shoes? Open-toed shoes? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Close-Toed vs...
Suppose you take off your sandals and then carry them while holding the straps in your hand. In that case, is it correct to call those straps handles? Phil in Omaha, Nebraska, has a longstanding dispute with a friend over that question. You might...
All aboard! Cap’n John, a.k.a. as Quiz Guy John Chaneski, invites you on a series of rhyming cruises. Just as a booze cruise features lots of alcoholic beverages, John’s excursions have themes that also rhyme with the word cruise. For example, one...
Dexter from San Diego, California, says his family used the word zoris for the footwear other people call flip-flops. In Japan, the word zori refers to a type of footwear made of grass or straw, and English speakers adopted this term in the early...
Annie in Bend, Oregon, says that while living on a narrowboat in England several years ago, she encountered some intriguing slang: clever clogs, a slightly derogatory term for someone who’s a bit too smart for their own good, and pop your clogs, a...
Brand names, children’s games, and the etiquette of phone conversations. Those clever plastic PEZ dispensers come in all shapes and sizes—but where did the word PEZ come from? The popular candy’s name is the product of wordplay involving the German...
