Katie in Kalamazoo, Michigan, wonders about the expression throw the book at, meaning to “try every means possible.” Did it originally involve literally throwing books? It’s just a metaphor in which the book refers to “the...
In northern England, mafting means “oppressively hot” or “sweltering,” as in mafting hot weather. The word is of uncertain origin and has been around only since the 1990s. It can also work as a verb, for example when someone is mafting in bright...
Squire in Murray, Kentucky, wonders about the expression hot as flugens, meaning “really hot.” The term flugens serves as an emphasizer or making money like flugens or ran like flugens or even cold as blue flugens. In the 1830s, many...
A wonderclout is something that appears amazing but is actually quite useless. An old meaning of clout is “rag.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Wonderclout” Here’s a word that I’ll think...
Margaret from Denton, Texas, says that during her many years in northern New Mexico she noticed that residents with Latino roots often used the phrase landed up instead of ended up, and get down off the car rather than get out of the car. The latter...
Duncan from Brooklyn, New York, says his friends say dumb brick, where dumb works as an intensifier and brick means “very cold.” The adverbial dumb, as in dumb rich or dumb cold, has been documented since the 1700s and appears to have developed as a...