After our conversation about sisu, the distinctively Finnish term for “intestinal fortitude,” a listener of Finnish heritage from northern Wisconsin emails to illustrate the Finns’ understanding the word. Sisu, he says, requires...
Sangwich, sammitch, and samwidge are natural workarounds for the tricky consonant cluster in sandwich. Eric in San Antonio grew up hearing sangwich from parents, grandparents, and friends, then changed his pronunciation after seeing the word in...
ganas n.— «“It’s an immigrant community that has a lot of ganas—a lot of desire to move ahead,” Professor Smith said of Mexicans in New York. The trouble, he added, is that the economic, social and community support needed to get ahead...