Colin in West Hartford, Connecticut, says his teenagers admiringly use the word dirty to describe a great athlete, and use filthy to describe one who’s especially talented. Although this positive usage of originally negative words may sound...
Janie says that when she moved to Nantucket, Massaschusetts, she’d hear oldtimers there describe something in positive terms by saying it was some good. The some here functions as an intensifier that simply means very. This expression...
Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style is a highly opinionated, helpful resource for anyone who wants to become a better writer. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Highly Opinionated Guide...
Robert from Hamlin, West Virginia, was surprised to while touring with a gospel group to hear Southerners describe an especially good meal as larrupin’ or larruping. The verb larrup means “to strike,” and larruping is one of several...
Duncan from Brooklyn, New York, says his friends say dumb brick, where dumb works as an intensifier and brick means “very cold.” The adverbial dumb, as in dumb rich or dumb cold, has been documented since the 1700s and appears to have developed as a...
Nathan, a sailor at the United States Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, reports a vigorous dispute among his fellow servicemembers: Is gruntled a word? Nathan feels gruntled must be a word, arguing that it’s clearly the opposite of disgruntled. But...