A Pittsburgh woman reports that when she went away to college, she was surprised to find people correcting her grammar when she’d say things like “the car needs washed” or “the kids need picked up.” She wonders if...
third culture kid n.— «Sonia wants to return to Kenya sometime—”I mean, it’s my home”—but doesn’t know when. As a Kenyan-Indian who moved to Singapore when she was six and lived there for 14 years before attending college in...
A New York babysitter says the English language needs a word to replace the clunky phrase, “the kids I babysit.” The hosts try to help her find one. “Charges”? “Child associates”? “Padawans”? This is...
retrovore n.— «The best moment at this market was when I found out I’m a retrovore. That’s a new word, invented today. One of the farmers we were chatting with said his kid said to him “Dad, if you didn’t raise animals the way you...
zipper n.— «When he was running around shirtless this summer, Wyatt realized most other kids don’t have surgical scars—or “zippers,” as he calls them.» —“Fighting cancer, as a patient and a lobbyist” by Nina...
throw it up v. phr.— «She and other deputies exchange gang information. “Kids try to fly in under the radar, try to keep their gang links secret.” But, she said, you might see a student “throwing it up,” jargon for...