Jiffy from Atlanta, Georgia, relates a story about a smelly road trip cooped up with her dog Moxie, who’s been sprayed the night before by a skunk. In recounting the story, she realized she hadn’t used the word skunked since she played cribbage with...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle this week involves pig Latin, a.k.a. Ig-pay Atin-lay. One of two answers to each clue is a regular English word, and the other is its pig Latin version. For example, what regular English word and its pig Latin...
In ancient Rome, kids played games with nuts — specifically walnuts. In a Latin poem from that era, “Nux,” a walnut tree describes some of those games. Nux is Latin for “nut,” the source also of nucleus, or “kernel of a...
Jim in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, says that during childhood games of touch football, he and his friends would count out the required three seconds before rushing as Mississippi one, Mississippi two, Mississippi three. Other ways of counting...
Judson from Texas asks about the phrases long suit and strong suit, after seeing long suit used where he would expect “strong suit.” Both come from card games such as bridge and whist: a long suit is a hand with several cards of the same suit, while...
When it comes to learning new things, what’s on your bucket list? A retired book editor decided to try to learn Latin, and ended up learning a lot about herself. There’s a word for someone who learns something late in life. And when it...
