High school students in Alabama share some favorite slang terms. If someone tells you to touch grass, they’re telling you to get a reality check — but the last thing you’d actually want to touch is dog water! Also, the history of the word hangover...
Drew in Washington, D.C., wonders about names for the drink that’s part lemonade and part sweet tea. It’s sometimes called a half and half, or sunshine tea, but is also widely known as an Arnold Palmer, in honor of the champion golfer who was...
Growing up in Massachusetts, David always used the word bubbler to denote a drinking fountain. So he was flabbergasted during a trip to Southern Indiana when no one had any idea what he meant when he asked where he could find a bubbler. He might not...
A listener in Omaha, Nebraska, says his mother always ends a phone conversation not with Goodbye, but mmm-bye. How common is that? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Mmm-Bye” Hi, you have A Way with Words. Hello. My name is Chad...
An Alabama woman says her Minnesota-born husband has never heard an expression she’s used all her life. The phrase is “smell the patching,” as in “If he’s not careful, he’s going to smell the patching.” The idea is that if you do something bad, it...
The term no-see-ums refers to those pesky gnats that come out in the heat and humidity and are so tiny they’re almost invisible. The term goes back at least as far as the 1830s, and is heard particularly in the Northeastern United States. This is...