Secret signals on the job: Waitresses at some 19th-century restaurants ensured speedy drink service by communicating with a non-verbal code. One server took orders, then placed each customer’s cup to indicate exactly what the customer wanted. A...
Jeff in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is married to a woman from Barcelona who grew up speaking British English. She pointed out to him his use of the word of with the preposition off, as in Take the book off of the table or Let’s get off of the highway...
Have you ever offered to foster a dog or cat, but wound up adopting instead? There’s an alliterative term for that. And when you’re on the job, do niceties like “Yes, ma’am” and “No, sir” make you sound too formal? Not if it comes naturally. And...
A native of Houston, Texas, moves a few hundred miles north to Dallas and discovers that people there say she’s wrong to call the road alongside the highway a “feeder road” rather than a “frontage road.” Actually, both terms are correct. The Texas...
What’s the difference between a turnpike and a highway? In the 1700s, privately funded roads were constructed in the Northeast to connect commercial centers, but tolls were charged to pay for the wood planks that covered the road; this was well...
cold-in-place n.— «Several miles of lettered highways in the county that were going to be resurfaced using a new method called “cold-in-place.” were also taken off the table.» —“MoDOT brings listening post to Richmond” by Dennis Sharkey Daily...