Where would you find a sports commentator talking about high cheese and ducks on a pond? Here’s a hint: both terms are part of what makes America’s pastime so colorful. • A government official in New Zealand proposes a new, more respectful term for...
A New York City listener enjoys the music played between segments of our show, particularly the reggae tunes, and wonders about the origin of the word reggae. This musical form was popularized by the Jamaican band Toots and the Mayfield, and may be...
The books we love as children may influence our careers more than we realize. As a child, Martha was fascinated with stories of cracking codes, and Grant loved books with glossaries–not that far from the kind of work they do today. A caller from...
We often hear that English is going to hell in a handbasket. Actually, though, linguistic handwringing about sinking standards and sloppy speech has been going on for centuries – at least as far back as the 1300’s! And: language also changes to fit...
daggering n.— «The commission describes daggerin” as a “colloquial term or phrase used in dancehall culture as a reference to hard-core sex or what is popularly referred to as “dry” sex, or the activities of persons engaged in the public simulation...
wash-belly n.— «Hyacinth “Iya” Archibald’s world was uplifted, when on September 25, 1978, her last child (in Jamaican patois called “wash-belly”) Ricardo “Bibi” Gardner was born.» —“Boy wonder grows into a Reggae captain” by Clyde...