The term nebby, meaning meddlesome or nosy, literally derives from the word neb, or “nose,” a term that’s been around in English for more than a thousand years. Despite what you might guess, nebby is unrelated to the Yiddish word nebbish, meaning “a...
A caller named Emily from Fishers, Indiana, wondered about nebby, a word she uses to mean picky and that her Michigan friends use to mean gossipy. In Western Pennsylvania, where the word is especially common, nebby means nosy or snooping, and it...
Julia in central Indiana grew up hearing nibby for someone who snoops or gets into other people’s business. The more common spelling is nebby, a Western Pennsylvania term that fits her family’s earlier move from Pennsylvania into Ohio and Indiana...
Are we a nosy species? A listener married to a woman from Bangladesh explains how a Bengali term that translates as “nose-going” reflects the naturally inquisitive style of Bangladeshi culture. In many languages, the nose figures...
What was your first word? Grant and Martha talk about how children acquire language. Also, if you say that something’s in your wheelhouse, you mean that it’s within your area of expertise. But why “wheelhouse”? And what does...
Grant goes through the mailbag, offering answers about the terms “nosy parker,” “out of pocket,” and about whether the word “falsehood” has its origins in medieval garb. He also throws a question out to listeners...
