A Los Angeles, California, listener says his grandmother, a native Spanish-speaker, used the word filibustero to mean “ruffians.” Any relation to the English word filibuster? As a matter of fact, yes. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...
Pirooting around can mean “whirling around,” as well as “prowling” or “nosing around.” This expression is most commonly heard in the American South and Southwest. Piroot is most likely a variant of pirouette and is probably influenced by root, as in...
Careful what you criticize! Not long ago, some words that sound perfectly normal today were considered gauche and grating on the ear. If the complainers had had their way, we couldn’t say a word like pessimism or use contact as a verb! Also, we’ll...
How does the alphabet get to work? Why, the L, of course! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Another Alphabet Riddle” I have more alphabet riddles for you. Oh, great. There are only 26 letters, right? So surely I can get one of these...
