Revengelical n.— Note: A play on “Evangelical.” «Wasn’t it in Genesis (as Revengelicals follow the Old Testament pretty closely) that Moses was speaking with God over the fate of the “wicked” city Sodom and that if...
Humorist Roy Blount Jr. sits down with Grant for a conversation about the controversy over writers’ rights, the Amazon Kindle 2, Roy’s recent book, Alphabet Juice, “sonicky” words, and noodling for catfish. He also clears up...
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...
Keith in San Diego grew up in South Louisiana saying get down to mean getting out of a car, as in asking passengers whether everyone is getting down. In Cajun country, that use is likely a calque, a direct translation from French, where descendre...
Have you ever eaten a Benedictine sandwich? Or savored a juicy pork steak? What’s a favorite dish you grew up with that may be mystifying to someone from another part of the country? Also, what does it mean to tell someone to “put a snap...
A woman who went to school in New Orleans reports she was startled the first time she heard residents of the Crescent City talk about making groceries rather than buying them. Grant explains the French origins of that expression. This is part of a...