Susan from Chester County, Pennsylvania, who grew up hearing New York broadcasts, asks why the borough is called The Bronx with a definite article rather than simply Bronx. The name goes back to 17th-century settler Jonas Bronck, whose name survived...
Tory in Paulson, Wyoming, is surprised to find that many people aren’t familiar with the term bowery used to mean “an open-air pavilion.” Bowery comes from a Dutch word for “farm,” bouwerij. Today this specialized use of bowery to denote “a roofed...
For the first nine or ten years of her life, the 18th-century abolitionist Sojourner Truth spoke only Dutch. She later used her accent to great effect in her stirring speeches. As Jeroen Dewulf, director of Dutch Studies at University of California...
friendraiser n.— «That event wasn’t a fundraiser—its tickets of $60 per person or $90 per couple, she says, went entirely to cover costs—but was what arts development professionals have taken to calling a “friendraiser.” It’s meant to increase the...
