Quiz Guy John Chaneski is puzzling over demonyms, those names people who reside in a particular area. For example, someone who lives in Brooklyn, New York, is a Brooklynite. People who live in Boston, Massachusetts, are called Bostonians, but what...
Listeners weigh in on our discussion about thin places, those locales where the mundane and mystical appear to merge. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “More Thin Places” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the...
A trucker in Glasgow, Kentucky, wonders about the term boom dog, a device used to secure things on a trailer. The boom may be inspired by a ship’s boom. The word dog has long been used in a variety of ways to refer to something that holds...
We spoke a little while ago about quickie baths, which one listener called a Georgia bath, but we got a letter from someone who’s grandmother used to refer to it as “swabbin’ the vitals,” that last word sounding like “vittles...
“What’s your name?” “I’m Puddin’ Tame, ask me again and I’ll tell you the same!” This and other rhymes, such as “What’s your number? Cucumber!” derive from French, English, and American...
Helen in Las Vegas, originally from Glasgow, grew up saying she had taken the scunner to someone when a crush suddenly curdled into disgust, irritation, and even a little fear. As a noun, scunner can mean revulsion or loathing, and a miserable...
