A question from a listener on the A Way with Words Facebook page has Martha musing about the entomological and etymological connections between the word pupil and the pupal stage of an insect’s life.
Acnestis is the part of the back one can’t reach to scratch. It’s handy for that otherwise inaccessible patch, as in asking someone to put suntan lotion on your acnestis. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of ““Acnestis” Is the Spot on...
Humorist Roy Blount Jr. stops by to try his hand at a slang quiz specifically about Southernisms.
If a restaurant menu states, “We cook off our potatoes,” what in the heck does that mean? A truck driver who encountered such an announcement at a roadside cafe is still puzzling over what it means to “cook off” a tuber. He phones in to hash it out.
No, it’s not the neurological effect of spending too much time researching odd new terms. Slang jang is a tongue-tickling sauce found in East Texas. For more about slang jang, including recipes, check out etymologist Barry Popik’s site. Transcript...
Does your family have a word for the cardboard tube left over from a roll of toilet paper? A caller says his family refers to them Oh-ah, Oh-ahs. Turns out many families have their own terms for them, including drit-drit, dawda dawda, hoo-hoo, to...