Miley in The Dalles, Oregon, asks about going gunny bags meaning to “break down” or “go haywire.” Her mother uses this expression, but has no idea where she picked it up. The term gunny sack, referring to a bag made of coarse material such as jute...
In addition to all those towns with extremely short names, there’s the river in Oregon with a similarly tiny appellation. It’s known simply as the D River. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Driver, Take the Bridge Over the D River”...
In the Eastern and Southern United States, freezing rain that leaves everything covered with ice is simply known as an ice storm. In the Pacific Northwest, this sort of rain followed by a hard freeze goes by a more poetic name: silver thaw. This is...
Twelve-year-old Gagnon from Newport, Oregon, wonders: What’s the difference between a motor and an engine? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Motor v. Engine” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Ganyan, and I’m calling from...
Martha in Portland, Oregon, has long joked about having an imaginary boyfriend named Raoul. Then she discovered that two friends of hers also joke about their own imaginary boyfriend named Raoul. Then a third friend told her about yet another woman...
A 1946 article in the California Folklore Quarterly features a collection of folks sayings from a pioneer family in Western Oregon, including this phrase to describe the one person in town who seems to know everybody’s business: He knew everybody...
