Store clerks: If someone asks for a case quarter in change, it means they don’t want two dimes and a nickel or five nickels. They want a single 25-cent piece. Same for a case dollar, case dime, or case nickel. The customer is asking for a...
After she added to his unusual collection of photos of relatives riding camels, Douglas in Thomasville, Georgia, wonders whether his brother’s granddaughter is his great-niece or his grandniece. Both terms are widely acceptable for that relationship...
A pitch-in is Indiana’s preferred term for a potluck dinner, as Sabrina learned after moving to Indianapolis from Seattle. When classmates announced a pitch-in, she didn’t know what they meant, and friends from Ohio and family in the South were...
Death of the Typewriter Ding! In this week’s episode, Mark Twain would be pleased. Reports that it’s the end of the line for the typewriter have been greatly exaggerated. Well, slightly anyway: it’s not the horseless carriage...