Is the expression right on! just an outdated relic of hippie talk, or is it making a comeback? The Journal of American Folklore traces it back to at least 1911, but it gained traction among African-Americans and hippies in the ’60s and ’70s, and now...
Where do we get the phrase “be there or be square”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Be There or Be Square” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Lorraine. I’m calling from Benita, California...
Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a word quiz about words and phrases that have two sets of a double letter. Here’s an example with a one-word answer: “The place where you learn ‘the three R’s.'” This is part of a complete...
You may recall earnestly singing “Kumbaya” around a campfire. But a caller observes that the title of this folk song has taken on a new, more negative meaning. Grant and Martha discuss the new connotations of “Kumbaya,”...
hi-so adj.— «Visitors to Khao San Road “are more hi-so now,” says Pattamon Yaidaeng, invoking the local term for “high society.”» —“A Hippie Haven Goes Upscale” by Newley Purnell in Bangkok, Thailand New York...
happy-clappy adj.— «You don’t have to be a happy-clappy Silicon Valley hippie to see that computer-driven virtual reality is set to upstage Euro Disney before the millennium. » —“In This Sterile Diorama, Life Is but a...
