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 criminal code.” In the...
In northern England, mafting, a word of uncertain origin, means “oppressively hot” or “sweltering.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Mafting” Another weather word that’s used in the UK and that’s only been around since the 1990s is...
A Indianapolis, Indiana, woman remembers that her Kentucky-born grandfather used to say that a lazy person wasn’t very work-brickle. The dialectal term work-brickle is a variant of work-brittle, which, in the late 19th century, described someone who...
“Make a branch” is a euphemism that means “to urinate,” the word branch being a dialectal term for “a small stream.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Make a Branch” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi. Hi, who’s this? My name’s...
In the Navy and the Marines, if someone goes hermantile, they’re angry, shouting, and unpredictable. This slang expression is of uncertain origin. It goes back to World War I but has stayed almost exclusively within the military’s lexicon and...
Ever been accused of faunching around? A San Diego listener says her family used this expression to describe the act of squirming fussily or impatiently, the kind of thing that happens when a toddler gets a haircut. She asks if the word is unique to...