Max, a paramedic in Dallas, Texas, says that in his line of work, the term snowed describes a patient whose level of drug intoxication is so high that they’re aware only of themselves. Snowed in this sense may stem from an analogy with the sensory...
Nancy in Panama City Beach, Florida, remembers that as a girl, whenever she asked why her mother was looking at her, her mother would respond, “Well, can’t the cat look at the queen?” This phrase goes all the way back to the mid-16th century. A 1652...
Collieshangles is an old Scottish term for a quarrel, possibly deriving from the notion of two collie dogs fighting. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Collieshangles” Another wonderful bit of Victorian slang, a collie shangles. A...
joy rider n.— «“On the second day, we were quite bad, very seasick,” said Laura Browning, 51, of Manchester, England, who sailed to New York with her husband, Steve, aboard the Queen Victoria.…“The crew distributed some tablets to those of us who...

