Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you’re from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there’s Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and … The Bronx — why do we add...
Arthur in New Bern, North Carolina, wonders why we say something that isn’t difficult is as easy as pie when making a pie is a whole lot of work. This phrase most likely refers to the ease of eating a pie, not making one. This is part of a...
Tory in Paulson, Wyoming, is surprised to find that many people aren’t familiar with the term bowery used to mean “an open-air pavilion.” Bowery comes from a Dutch word for “farm,” bouwerij. Today this specialized use...
Why is there an upstate New York but not an upstate New Jersey, or an Oklahoma panhandle but not a Missouri panhandle? Both geographic phenomena exist in those places, but the terminology varies. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Some New York City street names also denote whole industries, such as Wall Street and Madison Avenue. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Industry Street Names” Out of all the New York language that I know, I think the...
The 2011 words of the year list wouldn’t be complete without occupy, as in the Occupy protests that sprang up in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park and elsewhere. And Zuccotti lung? It’s an illness that made its rounds among the camped-out...