Diane in Frankfort, Kentucky, says her mother always pronounced the word wash with an R sound in it. This pronunciation of wash as “warsh” reflects what linguists call the intrusive R or excrescent R, a form of what’s known as...
In Appalachia, it’s fairly common to pronounce chimney as if it were spelled chimley or chimbley is fairly common in Appalachia. This pronunciation is an artifact of immigration in areas originally settled hundreds of years ago by people from...
visa run n.— «Many people who have come to work in Taiwan have had to undertake the inglorious journey of what is commonly called a “visa run,” in order to acquire the necessary status to work here legally. The phrase instantly brings to...
border shopping n.— «Since coming back to Canada, he’s tried to cross again, unsuccessfully, at other ports of entry—because his U.S. employer still wants him back. Gibbons said, each time, he was made to feel more and more like a...
Hispandering n.—Gloss: pandering to Hispanics. «The Scrum pays close attention to the 2004 presidential race, noticing Dick Gephardt’s recent Hispandering proposal to “legalize undocumented immigrants who have lived in the United...
jackpot baby n.— «Our preseason favorite: Rep. Russell Pearce’s plan to deny birth certificates to kids born to people who entered the country illegally. Guess Russell thinks the rule of immigration law is now far more important than the...