Do you refer to your dog or cat as “somebody”? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don’t mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for centuries, there was little consistency in the...
In some British dialects, the word cackemander means “friend.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Cackemander” Heterological nouns are nouns that sort of don’t sound like what they are. Heterological meaning other...
The editors of the Oxford English Dictionary recently added several Irish English terms. One of them is segotia, which means “friend.” There’s an entry for this word, also spelled segocia, in Grant’s own book, The Official...
John, a Navy veteran in San Diego, California, shares some pranks played on new recruits. One involves sending a newbie to the boatswain’s locker for ten yards of gig line. In military jargon, a gig line is the imaginary line from the middle...
Boustrophedon is writing that changes direction with each line, right to left, then left to right, and back again, like an ox turning at the end of a furrow. The word comes from Greek bous, “ox,” and strophe, “turn.” The same ox root appears in...
What shall we call those drivers who take so much time when the left-turn light changes to green that you miss your chance to go and sit through another red light? Our conversation about that prompted a whole slew of emails from listeners...