Aaron in Los Angeles, California, notes while using public transit in Britain he and other passengers were instructed to alight from the front, meaning “exit the car from the front.” Alight comes from an Old English word alihtan, literally, to...
In another episode, we discussed the apparent lack of a single English word that means “give someone something to drink” in the same way that feed means to “give someone food to eat.” A listener points out that in Hebrew, that function is fulfilled...
The term land of Nod, a joking reference to sleep, has its origins in the biblical Nod, to which Cain was exiled after murdering his brother Abel. Jonathan Swift first used it that way in his 1738 work, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious...
God is a baseball fan, according to one of our listeners. It’s right there in Genesis, where it talks about what happened in the big inning. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Big Inning” Grant, you will recall that I was telling...
How did Nimrod, the name of a mighty hunter and a great grandson of Noah, come to mean a lamebrain idiot? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Nimrod” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi. Hi, who’s this? Hi, this is Kathy. Hi, Kathy...
A woman in Burlington, Vermont, says her mother used to use the expression land o’ Goshen! to express surprise or amazement. Where is Goshen? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Land o’ Goshen” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi...