Kinbank is a new database that illustrates the global diversity of family terms. English, for example, specifies sibling relationships with just one of two terms: sister or brother. But most other languages have even more specific terms. In...
Someone who is easily offended can be said to be pepper-nosed. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Prickly Pepper-Nosed People” Here’s a very handy word that was used in the 16th and 17th centuries, but seems to have died out. It’s...
A kindergartener misunderstands the name of an event at his school, insisting to his mother that he attended a pepper alley, not a pep rally. Let’s hope that’s the case, because pepper alley is actually 19th-century boxing slang for being peppered...
Holly from Camden, South Carolina, says her grandmother used to sprinkle lots of pepper on their food, advising the family that heavily seasoning food that way meant that they wouldn’t get the pips. The term the pips or the pip was originally a term...
The phrase salt of the earth describes someone who is essential and pure of heart, a reference to the biblical Sermon on the Mount. To salt the earth usually means to render the ground useless, whether metaphorically or literally. This is part of a...
Carrie from Waupaca, Wisconsin, confesses she was stumped when that her son Aidan asked,”Mom, can you do a winter pepper?” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Winter Pepper” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about...