A woman from Dallas wants to know about a verbal habit she grew up with in her Cajun French speaking Louisiana family. It’s use of repetition for emphasis, as in, “it’s hot, but it’s not hot hot.” Grant explains how reduplications...
Who put the piping in the expression “piping hot”? This is part of a complete episode.
In this week’s installment of “Slang This!,” Grant and Martha are joined by June Casagrande, author of Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get you Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs — Even If You’re Right. June...
hot-in-place n.— «A process known as “hot-in-place” treatment will also be used to extend the life of some city streets. Dopp described the process as a way to recycle existing road materials by heating the surface and then...
greentailing n.— «In their newest book on retailing, authors Stern and Ander examine the revolutions occurring in the retail marketplace, with particular emphasis on the influential green trend in retailing, or Greentailing...
french v.— «Add this to the list of terms that no one seems to know the origin of. Frenching is simply smoothing a body element into the body so it’s faired in—most often the headlights and tail-lights of a vehicle. To french headlights...