Irv in Montreal, Canada, says that in his city, English speakers will typically use the word messages where others might use errands, as in I’m going to do some messages. The oldest meaning of the word errand is “message,” “news,” or “tidings.” In...
Kyle in Fort Monroe, Virginia, says his family uses honyock for someone acting foolish or silly, especially politicians and bad drivers, and he wondered whether it carried older baggage. Variants include hunyak, hunyaker, and hunyokker. The word...
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...
Greta and Sean in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, are discussing whether the term awhile can mean “in the meantime,” as in Let’s go move your car awhile. It’s certainly used that way in many parts of Pennsylvania, reflecting German settlement patterns...
Melissa in Grand Prairie, Texas, hails from a family in New Jersey that refers to red pasta sauce with meat in it as gravy. Her family has Italian roots, and in their local dialect, the word for “sauce” can also be translated as “gravy.” Sicilian...
A listener shares a story on our Facebook group about how a child’s misunderstanding illustrates the power of metaphor. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Cows in the Ocean” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about...
