On a busy day in the emergency room, Alisa of Dallas, Texas, told an efficient colleague that she was really humming, meaning it as a compliment. Her colleague took offense, maintaining that humming meant “smelly.” Since the 18th century, English...
A listener in Evansville, Indiana, wonders: Why do we say when something is undesirable that it’s for the birds? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “For the Birds” Hello, you have A Way with Words. My name is Doug Moore, and I’m...
flimsy n.— «“About 70 per cent of urban waste is organic matter that needs to be composted for use as manure,” Mr Mahinda says. The rest of the garbage consists of about 10 per cent plastics of which the hard plastics are recycled, leaving the...
pot holing n.— «Pot holing refers to a conservation farming technique that involves making holes in the field. During crop production, inputs ¾ fertilizers/manure, seed, water, lime ¾ all concentrate in the prepared hole as opposed to being spread...
chicken tractor n.— «A chicken tractor is basically a bottomless cage or pen of some kind. This is so the chickens can scratch (a chicken’s raison de etre) and eat off of the ground such things as grass, weeds, bugs, etc. In the U.K., chicken...
compost tea n.— «Applications of a manure or compost “tea” every week or so, once the stems have begun to bulb out, helps a lot. Put a couple of shovelfuls of manure or compost in a burlap bag and let is soak in several gallons of water for about...