Diane in Midland, Texas, asks why so many English words beginning with sn, including sneer, snarl, snot, snide, and snooty, carry negative or nose-related meanings. Phonesthesia is the term for associating certain sounds with particular meanings. In...
If you’re fair to middling (or with the g dropped: fair to middlin’), you’re doing just fine. A native of the Tennessee mountains wonders about the origin of this phrase her good-humored grandfather used. As it turns out, fair to middling was one of...
Does anyone use the expression “fat chance” anymore? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Fat Chance” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, my name is Fran Sherpa, and I’m from Midland, Texas. Well, hello...
