Sure, it’s scary to send your writing to a literary agent. But pity the poor agent who must wade through hundreds of terrible query letters a week! One of them shares excerpts from those hilariously bad query letters on a blog called SlushPile...
Today’s most popular dog names are Max and Bella. In the Middle Ages, though, dogs would answer to names like Amiable. Or Nosewise. Or even … Clench. ? Is the term redneck derogatory? Some folks proudly claim that name. They say...
For language lovers, it’s like New Year’s, Fourth of July, and the Super Bowl all rolled into one: The brand-new online edition of the Dictionary of American Regional English. Martha and Grant explain what all the fuss is about. Plus...
Thanks to the fatberg-a 15-ton blob of fat and grease found in a London sewer-the -berg suffix lives on. This is part of a complete episode.
Messing and gauming, meaning “dawdling and getting intro trouble,” comes from gaum, a term for something sticky and smeary like axle grease or mud. A baby with schmutz all over his face is all gaumed up. This is part of a complete...
meatza n.— «My friends once ate a pizza that was known in legend as “the meatza.” This pizza had no sauce, just 7 or 8 different meats piled quite high (estimated at about 4-5 inches). They then used the crust to mop up the grease that...