A young listener once asked if there was a single word for “a combination of being nervous but also excited” about something. Listeners offered several of their own coinages, including nervouscited. Another helpful term along these lines...
Kind and nice are sometimes used interchangeably, but Bonnie in San Diego asks what separates them. The difference is roughly that between demeanor and behavior. Nice points to how a person presents themselves and meets social expectations, while...
Someone who paints a negative or pessimistic picture is said to be hanging crepe. Martha has the origin. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hanging Crepe” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Suzanne from Dallas...
The answer to the riddle “Nature requires five, custom gives seven, laziness takes nine, and wickedness eleven” is hours of sleep a night. It comes from a collection of riddles gathered from Black schoolchildren in New Orleans and printed in early...
shopdropping n.— «Otherwise known as reverse shoplifting, shopdropping involves surreptitiously putting things in stores, rather than illegally taking them out, and the motivations vary.» —“Anarchists in the Aisles? Stores Provide a...
bust on someone v. phr.— «“Lepore hit a liner to center for the second out,” Christian said. “When he passed by me, he ’All over you, all over you.’ That really pumped me up. I mean, I like it when people bust on me, but...