Skiing is fun until you wipe out, flinging two skis, two poles, and perhaps your lunch all over the place. They call that a yard sale. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Skiing Slang “Yard Sale” Means a Crash That Scatters Your...
There’s no definite rule for putting the apostrophe “s” after names like Liz or Alex when talking about Liz’s wedding or Alex’s school, but we know for certain that most people say, and write out, the possessive...
A listener from Bozeman, Montana, wonders: Is it lame to add the letters th to the end of adjectives to make new nouns like lameth? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Adding Letters to Make New Nouns” Hello, you have A...
Scrumping is a Britishism for “stealing apples off your neighbors’ trees.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Scrumping” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, my name is Pascale Hickson and I’m...
Naomi, a Missoula, Montana, mom who’s writing a magazine essay, wants to know if due diligence is the appropriate term to denote the daily, household chores that her son’s new stepdad has taken on. The verdict: it’s a legal term...
What do you call tourists in your hometown? In New England, they have leaf-peepers. In Wisconsin, it’s berry-pickers or shackers, as in “people who rent cottages.” Coastal areas have pukers, a reference to people who charter boats...

