Many public speakers, including President Obama, have developed a reputation for using the reduplicative copula. You know, that thing where he says, “the thing of it is, is…” In wonky speak, this is what happens when a cleft...
There’s a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time—feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, “What the heck does that mean?” and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just...
Bubbler, meaning water fountain, is strongly associated with eastern Wisconsin and Rhode Island, where John from Minneapolis grew up saying it as bubbla. One early trail leads to the Kohler Company in Wisconsin, which introduced a bubbling valve...
Gabriel, near Baltimore, grew up in Utah and startled a Portland friend by asking him to put some papers in the jockey box. The term means a car’s glove compartment or glove box, and it turns up especially in Idaho and Utah, with some wider...
howling survey n.— «Every so often, they would stop their truck, step out, and howl. The technique, known as a howling survey, is one way for wildlife officials to make contact with and count the number of wolves in an area.» —“New...
Brookings effect n.— «Brookings, just north of the California border along the Oregon coast, is known for its sometimes very un-coastal weather that has come to be called the “Brookings effect.”» —“Brookings Oregon bakes...