According to Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English (Bookshop|Amazon) by Ben Yagoda, the word smarmy, meaning “unctuous” or “ingratiating,” may come from a 19th-century magazine contest, in which readers sent in made-up words such as...
In an 1899 contest sponsored by a literary magazine, a reader proposed the word whifflement to mean “an object of small importance.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Whifflement” Earlier I mentioned that contest where a London...
The “Think and Grin” section of Boy’s Life magazine has some pretty corny jokes, including one about a parking space. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Think and Grin” How about this little exchange? The officer says, you can’t park...
The “Think and Grin” section of Boy’s Life magazine has some pretty silly humor, especially in issues from the 1950’s. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Boy’s Life Humor” Lately just for fun I’ve been looking at copies of old...
“If you come to a fork in the road… take it!” Baseball legend Yogi Berra was famous for such head-scratching observations. What most people don’t realize, though, is that the former Yankees star often wasn’t the first person to say them. As Berra...
A San Diego, California, listener shares some slang used by her father, who was a Navy fighter pilot. To “bang off the cat” is to take off from an aircraft carrier. The meatball refers to the landing system that requires lining up with an amber...
