If someone’s impatiently pounding on your front door, you might respond Keep your pants on! The origin of this phrase is unclear, though it may be related to keep your shirt on, and other expressions that refer to partially disrobing before a...
Alight and come in is an old-fashioned, hospitable phrase recalling a time when a visitor who’s ridden a long way might be invited to hop off his horse and step inside for a meal. Variations include alight and look at your saddle and alight and look...
If you take a job at an airline, beware if your new co-workers ask you go find them a belly stretcher—they’re playing a practical joke on you. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Belly Stretchers” Curly Price from Fort Worth, Texas...
The epizootic is a type of imaginary ailment. You’d know it if you saw it—it’s like the horse kickles, but you don’t break out. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Epizootic” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, my name is Ken and...
Where does the term redneck come from, and is it derogatory? It goes back at least to the 1830s where it pops up in the Carolinas to refer to a farmer that works in the sun. Over time, people like listener Richard Ramirez of Fort Worth, Texas, have...
If you’ve had enough to eat, you might say you’ve had gracious plenty. This expression goes back to the early 1800s, and serves the same purpose as saying you’re sufficiently suffonsified or you’ve had an elegant sufficiency. This is part of a...