An artist asks strangers to write haiku about the pandemic and gets back poetic, poignant glimpses of life under lockdown. Plus, the new book Queenspotting features the colorful language of beekeeping! Bees tell each other about a good source of...
The terms cuddle death, piping, tooting, quacking, drone comet, and waggle dance are all part of the parlance of beekeepers. The book Queenspotting by Hilary Kearney details these and other bee-related terms. Kearney’s website, Girl Next Door...
Iris from Cave Junction, Oregon, wonders about the expressions get on the stick, meaning to get going, and piping hot, meaning extremely hot. While some have associated the phrase get on the stick with an automotive gearshift, sometimes known as a...
Who put the piping in the expression “piping hot”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Piping Hot” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett...
mother pipe n.— «You transport oil and gas by piping them. You know that there is what is called the mother pipe in the oil and gas industry, which is only 30 per cent of the value of the pipe. You buy the pipe and you come here and do...
pipe-bursting n.— «However, the sanitary districts also used a process called “pipe-bursting,” Carmouche said. In that process, a line was threaded into the sewer. Once inside, he said, it expanded to become a new sewer pipe...