A young woman wants a family-friendly way to describe a statement that’s fraudulent or bogus, but all the words she can think of sound old-fashioned. Is there a better term than malarkey, poppycock, or rubbish? Also, listeners step up to help...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Jawaiian adj.— «Many of our younger people who have grown up with these new sounds, actually think of the music as Hawaiian… at least one form of Hawaiian music. They call it reggae, Jamaican, Jawaiian, “contemporary”...