In much of the United States, the phrase I’ll be there directly means “I’m on my way right now.” But particularly in parts of the South, I’ll be there directly simply means “I’ll be there after a while...
Bill from Marquette, Michigan, asks why pretty works as a modifier in pretty good and pretty bad, even though the pairing seems to defy logic. The answer lies in a split that developed over centuries. In Old English, pretty meant cunning or crafty...
Male baristas aren’t called baristos for the same reason that male Sandinistas aren’t Sandinistos. There’s a certain class of nouns in both Italian and Spanish where the definite article changes to indicate gender, but the noun...