Dorothy Sayers’ 1935 novel, Gaudy Night (Bookshop|Amazon) includes a memorable description of late winter transitioning into early spring, noting that “February was sobbing and blustering its lachrymose way into March.” This is part of a...
Scott from Copper Canyon, Texas, wonders about a expression he heard from his childhood in the American South: neat but not gaudy. He understood it to mean appropriate, but not over the top. The expression goes back to 1600s and has many variations...
How did the word gay go from meaning lighthearted to homosexual? Also, why are elementary schools sometimes called grammar schools? Plus, imeldific, gone pecan, random Scrabble words, and the difference between borrow and lend. And the etiquette of...
If something’s gaudy and excessive, Filipinos might call it imeldific. It’s a slang term inspired by Imelda Marcos and her legendary shoe collection. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Imeldific” The things...
What’s the right way to pronounce gyros? Have you ever heard of feeling poozley? Called something great a blinger? Use the expression one-off to mean a “one-time thing”?
stock n.—Gloss: A goal scored in basketball. «Wade will eventually shift to LeBron on defense, and while he does post some gaudy defensive numbers (almost 3 “stocks” per game, to use some Simmons parlance), most of those come as a help...