brown town n.— «Colchester has been labelled “brown town” by local addicts because of how easy it is to get hold of heroin.» —“ Heroin ‘cheaper than a night out’” by Richard Martin, Jessica Creighton BBC...
One definition of a shivaree is “a compliment extended to every married couple made up of beating tin pans, blowing horns, ringing cowbells, playing horse fiddles, caterwauling, and in fine, the use of every disagreeable sound to make the...
Grant recommends a couple of favorite children’s books by Kate Banks and Georg Hallensleben: Baboon and The Night Worker. This is part of a complete episode.
Some folks use the old-fashioned exclamation “Good night, nurse!” as a handy substitute for a cussword. But where’d it come from? Grant explains how this phrase became popular in the early 20th century. This is part of a complete...
In a 1936 episode of Jack Benny’s radio show, a woman says that her father sprained his ankle the night before while truckin’. This has an A Way with Words listener confused; she thought trucking was a term from the 1970s. Grant clears...
drunk bus n.— «As a staggering girl’s stiletto heel punctures your ankle and the guy next to you throws up all over himself, the humid air becomes filled with an earsplitting, slurred version of the JMU Fight Song. Welcome to the Night...