The phrase “You’re not the boss of me” may have been popularized by the They Might Be Giants song that serves as the theme for TV’s “Malcolm in the Middle.” But this turn of phrase goes back to at least 1883. This...
Mary in Dallas, Texas, grew up in Canada and wonders why her British mother affectionately calls Mary’s nine-year-old son booby, a pet name passed down in the family from England. In Britain, booby has long been a children’s term for a crybaby...
The taunt neener, neener, neener is more an interjection than a noun or adjective. It belongs to a family that includes nyah-nyah and nanny-nanny-boo-boo. Brett in San Diego remembers it from Southern California playgrounds, where the melody is part...
“What’s your name?” “I’m Puddin’ Tame, ask me again and I’ll tell you the same!” This and other rhymes, such as “What’s your number? Cucumber!” derive from French, English, and American...
A Texas grandmother says she’s long been baffled about the origin of a counting rhyme that she learned from her grandmother. During the game, her grandmother bounced her on her knee, saying, “Malagee Buck, Malagee Buck, how many fingers...
When you were a child and wanted to lay claim to something, what did you say? Did you call “dibs”? Or “hosey” it? A caller is curious about another verb used in such situations: “finnie.” Grant explains this...