A nurse in Jacksonville, Florida, finds that, without even being aware of it, she takes on the accent of her patients, and she wonders whether that’s because she’s in a profession where she needs to make strong connections quickly with...
Victoria in Madison, Wisconsin, is curious about saying something is a thing, meaning that a particular phenomenon exists or is genuine. This phrase has been around since at least the time of Jane Austen, who used it in Pride and Prejudice. Other...
Todd of Port Jefferson, New York, is looking for a positive term that goes beyond the absence of bias: not merely “un-hate,” tolerance, or colorblindness, but active kinship, curiosity, and regard across difference. One candidate is allophilia...
Where does the term redneck come from, and is it derogatory? It goes back at least to the 1830s where it pops up in the Carolinas to refer to a farmer that works in the sun. Over time, people like listener Richard Ramirez of Fort Worth, Texas, have...
A San Diego listener of Mexican descent says a scene in a Quentin Tarantino film has her wondering about the term Mexican standoff. Is it just a duel? A three-way duel, complete with guns? The end of a 1-1 doubleheader in baseball? Over time...
adultism n.— «One specific “ism” that GLSEN takes great pains to address is “adultism,” which the guide defines as “behaviors and attitudes that adults are better than young people, and entitled to act upon them without their agreement.”...