Scott from Copper Canyon, Texas, wonders about a expression he heard from his childhood in the American South: neat but not gaudy. He understood it to mean appropriate, but not over the top. The expression goes back to 1600s and has many variations...
We’ll be celebrating the United States’ 250-year anniversary in about 12 years, and if you’re looking for a neat, shiny term for the event, how about bicenquinquagenary, or perhaps sestercentennial? This is part of a complete...
Greetings, earthlings. Here's another newsletter from A Way with Words! This past weekend's show was a repeat, although we tacked on a brand new call: what is the deal with bald-faced vs. bold-faced? Find out: Also discussed were...
spinky adj. (generally) good; neat, nifty, cool, spiffy. In the phrase spinky new, brand new. Also spinkee. Editorial Note: Rarely, spinky is used in a negative sense. The spinky in the 1986 citation could be a typographical or transcription error...
