Martha tells the story of the creepy, spooky, surreal, and downright weird Robert Burns poem behind the name for that flat hat called a tam. Read it in translation here. This is part of a complete episode.
Hey, hey, hey! It's another fat newsletter from "A Way with Words"! We never run out of things to talk about. Take this past weekend's show, for example. We tracked down the history of "Polly wanna cracker." It turns out...
Gordie Howe hat trick n.— «If he does, the top two players in the league last season could be in for what is known in hockey as a Gordie Howe hat trick—a goal, an assist and a fight.» —“Ovechkin, Malkin friendship grows...
Martha talks about the hoopoe, that colorful, clownish, extremely smelly bird—with a likely linguistic connection to defrauded hedge fund investors.
sugar hat n.— «The key is to find a sugar cone (also known as a “sugar hat”) which is a solid piece of white sugar that you can flame.» —“Feuerzangenbowle (Christmas Flaming Mulled Wine)” Celtnet...
dashboard v.— «Snyder is a 26-year-old from Raymore, Mo., with a black hat, a dignified air and a nose reconstructed a few years ago by a surgeon who used Snyder’s driver’s license as a guide. That procedure followed a head-to-head run-in...