Ray, a teacher at a bilingual elementary school near Dallas, Texas, shares the Spanish term his family uses for gossiping after a party: saca garra. Spanish garra means “claw” or “talon,” and sacar la garra is used on either side of the Texas-Mexico...
There are lots of words for people who engage in gossip. Another is quidnunc, from the Latin words quid, “what,” and nunc, “now.” A quidnunc is always asking “What now?” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Quidnunc” Grant, you...
Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, John Donne’s love poems are among the greatest in the English language, even as they’re famously difficult to...
We dish about the many terms for “gossip,” including hot tea, scuttlebutt, the scoop, the 411, the lowdown, the dirt, the scoop, hot goss, the poop, the dope, the T. In prison slang, grapes means “gossip,” and particularly juicy or tragic gossip is...
You might describe someone particularly talkative or gossipy by saying that their tongue wags at both ends. A more elaborate version is Your tongue wags at both ends and is tied in the middle. Another variant: Your tongue is hinged in the middle...
The phrase to be nebby is heard particularly in Western Pennsylvania, and means to be “picky” or “gossipy.” Originally, it meant “nosy” or “snooping.” Nebby is a vestige of Scots-Irish, where the word neb means “nose” or “beak.” This is part of a...

