Homie and homeboy don’t come from Latin homo, confirming Rachel in Connecticut’s suspicions about an unsourced Wikipedia claim. The source is the English word home: homeboy goes back to the late 1800s in Black English, meaning a male friend from...
Someone who’s extremely busy may be said to be “busier than a cranberry merchant.” What is it that keeps cranberry merchants so busy, anyway? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Busier than a Cranberry...
Before “Recombobulation Area,” “Discombobulate” Joined 1830s American Joke Words Like “Absquatulate”
At Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport, a post-security sign reading “RECOMBOBULATION AREA” plays on discombobulate, meaning to confuse or throw into disorder. Rissa from Madison wondered where discombobulate came from after seeing it while...