This week, McGimpers, geetus, and other underworld lingo from the 1930s. Crime novelist James Ellroy stops by to talk slang terms and reveals his own favorite. Also, is the expression “Hear, hear!” or “Here, here!”? Is it...
Who was that masked man? Was it the Barefoot Bandit, the Mummy Bandit, or perhaps the Botox Bandit? Or maybe it was the Bad-Breath Bandit? The hosts discuss the wacky names that law enforcement officers give to suspects. Also, what’s a pickle...
Mike, a retired Air Force pilot in Mondovi, Wisconsin, asks why the bomb-release switch on an aircraft is called a pickle button and why pickle off means to drop bombs or fuel tanks. The likely trail starts in the U.S. Navy, where torpedoes were...
A police officer says that the prosecutor edits out the word “that” from the reports he submits, as in, “The subject stated that he met the co-defendant at a party.” Is the word “that” necessary here? Martha and...
A listener from Clifton Park, New York, says her grandfather was a police officer who used the term jakey bum to refer to undesirable characters. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Jakey Bums” Hello, you have A Way with...
A former naval flight officer wonders how the term cockpit ever came to mean the part of the aircraft where pilots sit. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Origin of Plane Cockpit” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi...