Louis in Reno, Nevada, grew up in Montreal, Canada, speaking Québécois French. His father was fond of saying j’aime vacher le matin, puis je prends mon temps, meaning “I like to loaf and take my time in the morning.” Vacher comes...
When he lived in Nova Scotia, Jeffrey from Montreal, Canada, noted that the word some was often used as an intensifier, as in That’s some good or She’s some pretty or She’s right some pretty. Also common in the dialects of...
Erin grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, but when she moved to New York City, she found that people often told her she pronounces Erin as if it’s spelled like the masculine name Aaron. Has Erin been pronouncing her own name wrong all these years...
A Montreal, Canada, caller says that when he does something annoying, his wife will say simply, “Can you not?” He wonders if that construction is grammatically correct. This is part of a complete episode.
A listener in Montreal, Canada, asks: How do you pronounce lieutenant? The British say LEF-ten-ant, while Americans say LOO-ten-ant. In the United States, Noah Webster insisted on the latter because it hews more closely to the word’s...
pulk n.— «Not such an easy feat when you are moving forward on skis pulling a sled—or pulk, as it is called—with 140 pounds of weight to simulate all the food and equipment that must travel with each polar explorer.» —“Lawyer learns...