After our conversation about wishing well eggs, a listener from Viroqua, Wisconsin, chimes in with another name for this egg-in-toast dish: UFOs, short for Unidentified Frying Objects. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “UFOs: Saucer...
Skip, a sailing enthusiast from Gainesville, Florida, has been pondering radio protocols, such as the distress signal mayday!, and sécurité, which announces any of various warnings. There’s also pan-pan, repeated three times, a call that indicates...
rugby n.— «My pot of day-old rice—fried with cashew nuts, green peas, diced ham, sliced mushrooms, and scrambled egg—has residual value, I am sure. It can be served to a street child who sniffs “rugby” (local term for contact cement, associated...
pickout n.— «The potatoes are graded by size. The largest are called “chefs,” good for baking, frying, whatever else you want to do with them. Blemished potatoes are called “pickouts” and shipped off to be made into potato salad. Tiny balls—called...

