Vicki in Appleton, Wisconsin, grew up outside Minneapolis using kype (also rendered as cipe or kipe) for taking something that wasn’t really yours but didn’t seem important to the adults in charge, such as fort-building materials, with the...
How-do, neighbor! It’s another issue of the A Way with Words newsletter. This past weekend's show was a brand-new treat, stuffed full of chewy language goodness. We talked about "the vapors," whether...
tumbling n.— «Some Irish were able to buy tickets out of the country. “They were going to be driven off the land because they were unable to pay rent when the crops failed.…The landlord would come with a constable and do what...
bash and build n.— «Financially speaking, there are far worse fates for a homeowner than to be the neighbor of a “bash and build.” Love them or hate them, teardowns generally bolster the resale prices of their neighbors.» —“The Heart...
foodshed n.— «But where Waters’ foodshed stretches as far south as Chino ranch near San Diego, Grade’s ingredients are gathered from at most a 15-mile radius or no more than a half hour from the lodge. Much of it comes from people she...
scrapper n.— «She said her two youngest children, 8 and 6, were wearing blue shirts last year and were taunted by two neighbor children who called them “scrappers,” a derogatory term for Sureño gang members.» —“Parents...