The phrase potatoes and point involves a family tradition from times of scarcity when eaters would point to an imaginary food and ask for it to be passed when there was clearly no such food to be had. Irish sources trace potatoes and point to the...
There are lots of colloquial phrases to explain away the cacophony of a thunderstorm: The potato wagons are rolling, The tater wagon’s going over the bridge, The potato wagon broke down, and God is dumping out potatoes and washing them off. In...
When Melissa was growing up in Tacoma, Washington, she’d walk to the corner store, where she’d pick up a corn dog and a bag of jo jos, a term for soft potato wedges with the skin left on. Researcher Barry Popik has dug up a story that...
Jesse from Newport News, Virginia, asks about potato quality, slang for an image or gadget that seems conspicuously bad. Online, recorded with a potato has appeared for at least a decade in YouTube comments about a heavily pixelated or otherwise...
Following up on our conversation about unconventional forms of diet and exercise, Martha shares an exercise regimen that turns into a paraprosdokian. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Strange Exercise Regiment”...
In Kansas, the gravelly residue from mines is often called chat or chert. It’s not related to the verb meaning “informal discussion.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Chat, Chert” Hello, you have A Way...