Remember getting caught sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G? Grant and Martha wax nostalgic on some classic schoolyard rhymes. What do you call your offspring once they’ve grown up? Adult children? How about kid-ults? Plus, is there really such a thing...
We all lead busy lives—so are speed reading courses a good idea? Plus, if you hear someone speaking with a British accent, do you tend to assume they’re somehow more intelligent? And some common English surnames tell us stories about life in the...
Is the term military brat a pejorative? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Military Brat” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Bill from San Antonio. Welcome, Bill, from San Antonio? San Antonio, Texas, yes, ma’am. All...
To dime someone out, just like to drop a dime (on someone), is to nark or tattle, common in the days when it cost ten cents to use a pay phone and snitch. Of course, that’s when pay phones were used at all. This is part of a complete episode...
If someone’s got your six, it means they’ve got your back. This expression comes from the placement of numbers on an analog clock, and appears to have originated with military pilots. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Got Your Six...
Amber from Berlin, New Hampshire, works in a prison, and wants to know why those ominous double sets of prison doors are called by the feminine-sounding name sallyport. Going back to the 1600s, a sallyport was a fortified entrance to a military...
