Inspired by our conversation about the language of leave-taking and the Southern expression Y’all come go home with us, Claire in Durham, North Carolina, calls to reminisce about her experience as a teenager in Mexico and the extended good...
Need a good Scrabble word? Grant shares some of his favorites. Also, why do we call those classic screwball films madcap comedies? And what does it mean to walk in a crocodile? Plus mondegreens, naval slang, learned vs learnt, and “No way...
What’s the source of the phrase “No way, Jose”? And who in the world is Jose? Grant says the expression doesn’t show up in print until 1973, contrary to the oft-repeated story that it appeared in The Village Voice during the...
nerd bird n.— «The “nerd bird” lives on, after all. A week after American Airlines said it would cease the San Jose-Austin daily service that bore that nickname, Alaska Airlines said Monday it will inaugurate daily service...
cathedral thinking n.— «Rogers described how he has embraced something called “cathedral thinking” and he was calling on the valley to join him. I cringed at first mention of the term, worried that he was going to digress into...
yoga ibérico n.— «Después de comer, mejor dicho, después de haberme echado lo que los patriotas decimos el yoga ibérico y los pro yanquis siesta, me voy a una tertulia.» —by Camilo José Cela Los Sueños Vanos, Los Angeles...