After we heard from a listener about the phenomenon of swiping our hands together after finishing a chore—which she calls all-done clappy hands—several others reached out to say that in Great Britain, they use the phrase done and dusted. This is...
What the fox says may be a mystery, but we do know that dogs bark differently around the world. In China, for example, they say not bow-wow but wang wang. Also, the story behind the British tradition of scrumping. It’s not a middle school dance...
Elizabeth in Billings, Montana, grew up in Ireland using bollix or bollocks to mean making a mess of things, as in “I’ve really bollocksed this up.” The word is related to balls and originally referred to testicles, which helps explain why a...
Can you guess what a smiley is? No, the other smiley. Or how about tarantula juice? You could, of course, happen upon someone with a muffin top drinking inferior whisky, or you could look these terms up in the new Green’s Dictionary of Slang...
Judy from New York asks whether enamored of or enamored with is the better choice. In North American English, both constructions appear, but enamored of is more common and less likely to distract readers; British English strongly favors enamored of...
A Northern California caller discovers that in Britain, an invitation to share a joint doesn’t mean what it does back home. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Sharing a Joint in Great Britain” Hi, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this...