Lanessa in San Antonio, Texas, remembers once when her Tennessee-born grandmother saw her grandfather coming home from work and tromping into her pristine kitchen: “What in the tarnation? You don’t have any gumption! Don’t come walking into my...
The term green-eyed monster, meaning jealousy, first appears in Shakespeare’s Othello, when Iago says, “Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy!/ It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock/ The meat it feeds on.” This is part of a complete episode...
If something’s got you feeling ate up, then you might be consumed by the notion that it didn’t go perfectly. You’re overwhelmed, obsessed, or maybe you’re just exhausted. However, among members of the Air Force, ate up has long meant gung ho. This...
A line from The Moor of Venice, “that I would liefer bide,” features an old word for rather that shares a root with the words love and leave, as in by your leave. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “I Would Liefer” Hello, you have A...
Martha muses about the language of falconry, and in the process, reveals the origins of several words and phrases in one fell swoop.