The term skycap for workers who help with luggage at an airport was coined by analogy with redcap, a term for porters on trains who wore red caps. Skycap was the winning entry in a contest. Another contest, held in 1923, gave us the word scofflaw, a...
Quincy works as a delivery driver in San Diego, Calfornia. His wife’s been teasing him that while she’s stuck at home, his job lets him go out having fun, gallivanting, and “running into the strumpets.” What, he wonders, is a...
How often do you hear the words campaign and political in the same breath? Oddly enough, 19th-century grammarians railed against using campaign to mean “an electoral contest.” Martha and Grant discuss why. And, lost in translation: a...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski serves up a sibilant quiz about three-word phrases that have words beginning with S separated by the word and. For example, what 1970’s sitcom featured a theme song by Quincy Jones called “The Street Beater”...
walking school bus n.— «Some parents have put some of those worries to rest by starting what’s called a “walking school bus.” It’s a group of students, led and monitored by parents, who walk to school together.» —“Walking...
hoodling n.— «Dr. Wolf: “What is hoodling?” Mr. Ferrell: “That’s it, hoodling (demonstrates “Possum in a pawpaw patch, picking up pawpaws and putting them in his pocket.”).” Dr. Wolf: “That’s...
