Do Americans use the same sign language as the British? And what do Japanese people use instead of umm? Plus, why do we vote at polling places? What goes into file 13? All this, a word quiz, commode vs. toilet, saditty and bougie, and cute stuff...
One folksy way to take leave after a visit is to say, It’s time to put the chairs in the wagon. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Put the Chairs in the Wagon” Grant, I love collecting expressions of greeting and leave-taking. We...
What did you call the cliques in your high school? Were you a member of the nerds, the jocks, or maybe the grits or the heshers? Also, what’s the meaning of the phrase “rolling in the deep”? Why do we say something’s turned up like a bad penny? And...
Elaine in Redlands, California, grew up in east Tennessee using commode for the bathroom fixture, while her Ohio-born husband said toilet. Historically, a commode was a piece of furniture, sometimes one that held or enclosed a chamber pot, and the...
In truck driver slang, a bedbugger is “a moving van that hauls furniture.” That’s one example of trucker lingo that Martha picked up during her appearance on The Ben Merens Show on Wisconsin Public Radio. This is part of a complete episode...
A thick blanket or stack of blankets is also called a pallet. The Dictionary of American Regional English says this term is most common in the South Midlands — such states as Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. In the New American Standard Bible...