Carol from Clays Ferry, Kentucky, wonders about the term her grandmother used, dasn’t, as in the warning “We dasn’t do that.” The word dasn’t derives from the expression dares not. It’s now antiquated and mostly...
Sherry from Green Bay, Wisconsin, remembers that whenever she balked at doing a chore as a kid, her grandmother would say If ifs and ands were pots and pans, a tinker would have no trade. Her grandmother was suggesting that merely paying lip service...
Eva in Fairbanks, Alaska, wonders why her grandmother used to say raise the window down when she wanted someone to open that window. This is part of a complete episode.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle is an homage to his grandmother from New Jersey, or as she would pronounce it, Noo Joisey. When his grandmother cooked pasta, she’d bring the water to a rounded, knotty tree growth, also known as a what...
Lisa in Wilmington, North Carolina, remembers her grandmother using the expression who struck John to mean “confusion,” “foolishness,” or “bad behavior.” A common variant is “who shot John.” No...
When David from Warren County, Indiana, visited relatives in Virginia, he heard about an inebriated man who was said to have entered a church and caused a ruckus while sworpin’ down the aisle. In Appalachia, the verb sworp, also spelled swarp...