Nate in Winterville, North Carolina, remembers an older relative asking Are you going to get outside of that? meaning “Are you going to finish that meal?” To get outside of a meal or to climb outside of a meal suggests that you’re...
Amber from Charlotte, North Carolina, wonders why big, heavy shoes are called clodhoppers. Originally, clodhopper was an insulting term aimed at rustics or rubes, a reference to farmers who must literally step over clods of dirt to do with work. It...
Mary in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that her parents used to refer to the time before she was born as back when you were chasing flies in Egypt, the equivalent of when you were just a twinkle in your mama’s eye or twinkle in your...
Sometimes it’s a challenge to give a book a chance: How many pages should you read before deciding it’s not worth your time? There’s a new formula to help with that decision — and it’s all based on your age. • Have you ever...
A book of photographs and essays by famous writers celebrates libraries — and the librarians who changed their lives. Plus cutting doughnuts, spinning cookies, and pulling brodies: There are lots of ways to talk about spinning a car in circles on...
Rebecca in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that when the grandkids would take their leave, her grandmother would send them off with the sweet admonition Be particular! Heard most often in the American South and South Midlands, this advice derives...