Why do southern Californians refer to interstate thoroughfares with the definite article, as in the 405 or the 8? This usage is a result of the history of freeways in Southern California, and is heard in a few other places, including Phoenix...
Christina from Phoenix, Arizona, asks whether chai tea is redundant, since chai can mean tea in other languages. In U.S. English, chai has narrowed to mean solely a spiced tea, so chai tea works as a specific kind of tea rather than a mistake, no...
Demonyms are the words for people from particular places, and Mike in New York has been turning them into a family road-trip game for decades. Some are predictable, such as New Yorker or Californian, but local forms and old associations quickly...
hurricane cutting n.— «There is a practice sometimes called “hurricane cutting.” This involves removing not only all the dead fronds but all the green ones as well—including that batch of new fronds that sticks up in the air. Removing the fronds...
zanjero n.— «The park’s name pays homage to zanjeros, a term for people who work with water, Svelund said. The name originated about 100 years ago, when zanjeros would make sure water from canals funneled correctly to landowners.» —“New park...
Tom from Phoenix still remembers losing a seventh-grade spelling bee over dilemma, because he had been taught there was a silent n and wrote dilemna. The standard spelling is dilemma, and the dictionaries checked don’t list dilemna. Still, Tom isn’t...