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Episode 1469

Gone to Seed

This week on A Way with Words: Restaurant jargon, military slang, and modern Greek turns of phrase. • Some restaurants now advertise that they sell “clean” sandwiches. But that doesn’t mean they’re condiment-free or the...

Kimble, A Masterful Walk

A woman in Carmel, Indiana, wonders about the use of the verb kimble to mean a certain kind of “strutting.” Kimbling is that proud, confident way of walking you might associate with Barack Obama or Denzel Washington. Green’s...

Episode 1458

Stars and Garters

Novelist Charles Dickens created many unforgettable characters, but he’s also responsible for coining or popularizing lots of words, like “flummox” and “butterfingers.” Also, the life’s work of slang lexicographer...

Bunking

Students in New England might refer to playing hooky from school as bunking, or bunking off. Jonathon Green’s Dictionary of Slang traces the term back to the 1840s in the British Isles. This is part of a complete episode.

Episode 1417

Idiom’s Delight

A recent study found that some names crop up more frequently than others in certain professions. The name William is especially common among attorneys–and graphic designers include a higher-than-average number of Jessicas. Plus, picturesque...

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