A listener in Fairbanks, Alaska, says her husband has long referred to her as a whippersnapper, insisting it’s a playful term of endearment. Whippersnapper goes back to the 17th century, when boys who didn’t own horses would strut around...
Daniel in Nicholasville, Kentucky, says his grandfather would warn that if he got in trouble, he’d be in deep yogurt. That’s probably just a euphemism for deep doo-doo, deep foo-foo, or an even stronger epithet piled high. This is part...
An ornithologist says there’s a growing movement to change the name of a pink-footed bird currently called the flesh-footed shearwater. The movement reflects a growing understanding that using flesh-colored for “pink” fails to...
Is the term hooligan an anti-Irish slur? Probably not, although it does come from the name of one of several British gangs operating in London in the late 1800s. This is part of a complete episode.
You’re probably aware that massive is simply a slang term for great or large. But for one professional balloon artist who thought that something massive has to contain actual mass, it took some convincing for him to accept that his giant...
When you think of the word binky, a child’s pacifier probably comes to mind. But it’s also a term known among rabbit fanciers. It refers to when bunnies frolic and jump around. This is part of a complete episode.