In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant look into the myriad stories behind the word cocktail. Does the drink name come from feathers? Horses? Something up a horse’s rump? It’s a weird wandering down etymology...
Elaine from Boulder, Colorado, asks why to clock someone means to hit them. The slang appears to come from clock as a noun for the face, attested by the late 1800s, with the verb for punching someone in the face showing up by the 1920s. A related...
An Indianapolis, Indiana, man says that when his grandmother wanted to urge someone on, she’d say “It’s time to pour the cobs on” or “It’s time for the cobs.” What’s the origin? This is part of a...
A woman who grew up in south central Minnesota grew up using the phrase too yet, which can have various meanings at the end of a sentence, usually with some negative sense. An article by Peter Veltman in American Speech suggests that the tag too yet...
A listener in Port Washington, Wisconsin, asks: When is it appropriate to get rid of an old edition of a dictionary? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Discarding and Replacing Dictionaries” Hi, you have A Way with Words...
A man in Carlsbad, California, contends that the word ex for “a former partner” or “a former spouse” sounds too harsh. Is there a better term besides wasband? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...