Matt from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was puzzled when colleagues kept saying someone had stood up at a wedding, indicating that they’d been a member of the wedding party. The expression stood up in that sense is an Americanism going back about two...
A listener adds to our collection of slang used by RV enthusiasts. When she’s not in her sticks and bricks–that is, her brick-and-mortar home in Michigan–she’s driving around in her motor home chasing 70, which in the RV community means “trying to...
Dilly-dally comes from Anglo-French dalier, which means “to chat” or “act playfully,” making it a linguistic relative of dally, “to trifle with” or “to spend time frivolously,” and dalliance, a “frivolous act.” This is part of a complete episode...
A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies for this...
Barb in Battle Creek, Michigan, reports that when she was a small child, a neighbor from Georgia said she would bring her a box with five handles for her birthday. Barb was overjoyed until she learned that the phrase is actually a joking euphemism...
Tim from Kalamazoo, Michigan, reports his dad used to say You can give them books and give them books, but they just chew the covers right off. He’d use this expression when he felt someone wasn’t following instructions or failing to understand an...