Eric from Millbank, South Dakota, says his grandmother used the term duke’s mixture to denote “a hodgepodge,” such as ingredients in a stew. Duke’s mixture was originally the name of a cheap tobacco that was made from leftover odds and ends of...
Nathan in Raleigh, North Carolina, heard his grandfather, busy making Thanksgiving dinner for the family, describe the work as going steady by jerks. The expression means by fits and starts, with bursts of steady effort broken by pauses or...
If you’re mommicked, if you’re bothered, frustrated, or exhausted. Most often heard in coastal North Carolina, mommicked derives from an old word mammock, which as a noun, means “a fragment,” and as a verb, means “to break or tear.” One way to...
A physician in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, shares some of the vocabulary of his patients from Appalachia. There, a misery is anything painful, such as a misery in my jaw if they have a painful tooth or a misery in my back if they have lumbar pain...
Karen in Charlotte, North Carolina, adores her son’s cleft chin. Her husband, who also has one, calls it a butt chin. Karen prefers chimple, a combination of chin and dimple. Did she coin it? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “If a...
After our conversation about restaurant codes used to ensure efficient service, a chef in Charlotte, North Carolina, shares more examples from his experience in an upscale establishment. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “More Secret...