Ian in Jacksonville, Florida, wonders about why musicians use the word clam to mean “a mistake” or “an egregious musical error,” as in There are a lot of clams in there or We need to practice where the clams are regarding a musical passage that...
Bianca in San Diego, California, has heard family theories tying far out to surfers offshore, the Beach Boys, or 1960s psychedelia. The evidence points instead to jazz slang: by the 1920s, musicians and fans were using out of this world for music...