Do you answer the phone with a word or phrase that’s a little out of the ordinary? Readers of our email newsletter had some surprising answers to that question. One says that just for fun, he likes to answer with a cheery Front desk! A reader...
Erica in San Antonio, Texas, asks whether there’s a term for the soft noises that people make with their mouths while waiting, such as humming or whooshing, to pass the time. Another example might be that animated Typewriter Guy on Sesame...
Kristin in San Clemente, California, wonders why actors in old movies often hang up the phone without saying goodbye. It’s not just old movies! In fact, you can watch supercuts of lots of modern movies where the same thing happens. Although...
In baseball lingo, to dial eight is to hit a home run. According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the expression arose back when traveling baseball players had to dial the numeral 8 on a motel phone in order to begin a long-distance call. This is...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski proffers a puzzle he calls “F-Takeoffs,” which involves removing the initial letter F from a word to get an entirely different word. For example, if John orders some lumberjack tools by sending some scanned...
Sharon in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, says that when her father wanted his children to stop squirming, he used to say “You’re just like a fart in a mitten.” Versions of this term for something moving around a lot, feature a fart in a...