Swarf is the metal filings, grit, or powder left by grinding and other machine work, the stuff Martin in Bostonia, California, saw on a safety sign warning workers to “Beware of coolant and swarf.” The word also has a verb use, meaning to cover...
Mark in Indianapolis, Indiana, wonders about the history of the second person singular and plural in English. At one time, thee and thou were singular, and you and ye were plural. By the early 17th century, thou and thee as familiar terms of address...
Sister Patricia Marie in San Antonio, Texas, wonders why we use three sheets to the wind to describe someone who is inebriated. In nautical terminology, some of the ropes, or lines, attached to the corner of a sail are called sheets. If three of...
John says that many of the older patients in his Northeast Tennessee orthopedics clinic will refer to habitual activity as occurring of the morning or of the evening. The vastly more common versions of these phrases in the South and South Midlands...
Today, the phrase hue and cry means a clamor or uproar, but in old English law, hue and cry referred to the public outcry during the pursuit of a criminal suspect. Anyone who heard this shouting was legally obligated to join in the chase. This is...
Maribel in Montgomery, Alabama, reached for to boot after grumbling over a crossword clue, assistance in Alabama, whose answer was hep. In to boot, the boot isn’t footwear. It goes back to Old English bot, meaning an advantage or a remedy, so...