Why is boxing called the sweet science when it’s obviously such a bruising sport? Also, a mother of five is baffled when her Gen Z kids use words she thought she knew. For example, they call sweatshirts sweaters, and declare that’s so aesthetic...
Lydia in Portland, Maine, was texting someone about having seen an opossum, but wasn’t quite sure how to write that out with the article. Is it a or an opposum? Like most Americans, she drops the initial unstressed syllable, making it sound like...
An adult male opossum is called a jack, while the female’s called a jill. A baby opossum is simply known as cute. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Jacks and Jills” Grant, an adult male possum is called a Jack. Can you guess what an...
Dog chewing waspers, a Virginia expression Rona heard from her father in the Blue Ridge area, pictures someone chewing gum with their mouth open and plenty of teeth showing. Waspers means wasps, with related pronunciations such as warshpers heard in...
“He’s sharp as the corner of a round table.” “She’s so sad she’s pulling a face as long as a fiddle.” If startling similes leaving you “grinning like a basket full of possum heads,” you’ll love the book Intensifying Similes in English, published in...
dead check v. phr.— «“And how are you going to do your dead check?” persisted Lutz. “With a notional (make-believe) kick in the (groin), sir,” Derosby said. The oft-used technique quickly reveals whether an insurgent is truly dead or just playing...