You don’t really need those little rivets on your blue jeans. Those flat metal disks are leftovers from an earlier time, when jeans had to be much more durable. Such decorative elements that no longer serve a practical purpose are called...
Brian in Church Hill, Tennessee, asks about naming a blues-rock-country band Smackin’ Bejeebus, which echoes expressions such as “smack the bejeebus out of you” and “scare the bejeebus out of you.” Bejeebus is a playful variant of bejesus, also...
The word podcasting is commonly used to refer to making podcasts, but it’s also used by some as the verb for listening to, downloading, or listening to podcasts. The language around podcasts has always been tricky since the format was released...
Retcon, short for retroactive continuity, is the phenomenon commonly used in video games, comic books, and soap operas where something from a past plotline is changed in order for what’s happening in the present to make sense. Also along those lines...
We spoke a little while ago about quickie baths, which one listener called a Georgia bath, but we got a letter from someone who’s grandmother used to refer to it as “swabbin’ the vitals,” that last word sounding like “vittles...
A Turkish proverb about listening and paying attention: To one who understands, a mosquito is a lute. To one who does not understand, a drum and zurna are little. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Turkish Proverb for...