Byron in Jacksonville, Florida, shares that when his mother was astonished, she’d say Don’t that beat all! But when really surprised, she’d exclaim, That beats bobtail and bobtail beats the devil! What’s a bobtail and how could it beat the devil...
On our Facebook group, listeners discuss sayings that people use when they’re sitting around a campfire and smoke comes their way. Among them: I hate rabbits, I hate little white bunny rabbits, smoke follows the tenderfoot, and smoke follows beauty...
On our Facebook group, Brett asks: “What do you call a society run by rabbits?” A carrotocracy? How about a whatsupdocracy? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Carrotocracy” On our Facebook group, Brett Palmer asks, what do you call a...
Cat face is a cute way to describe something like a piece of fruit or a tree that’s grown in on itself, giving it a puckered kind of indentation. Particularly in the African-American community, it’s used to denote a wrinkle to be ironed out. This is...
When somebody sneezes, we say bless you or gesundheit. But suppose that person coughs. Are you supposed to say something — or are they? Plus, Mexican standoffs, gracious plenty, linguistic false friends, southpaw vs. northpaw, the slang of rabbit...
For language lovers, it’s like New Year’s, Fourth of July, and the Super Bowl all rolled into one: The brand-new online edition of the Dictionary of American Regional English. Martha and Grant explain what all the fuss is about. Plus, the debate...