Daniel in Gainesville, Florida, shares a funny story about people who misunderstood a party invitation that called for Sunday-to-meeting clothes. In this case, the meeting isn’t just any meeting. It’s an old word for “church service,” so if you’re...
Onomastics is the study of the origin and history of proper names. Many family names, such as Smith and Cook derive from occupations. That poses a conundrum for Marina Abbott from Sonoma, California: If abbots traditionally took a vow of celibacy...
Every tub on its own bottom suggests that every person or entity in a group should be self-sufficient. This idiom, often abbreviated to ETOB, is common in academic speech to mean that each department or school should be responsible for raising its...
blessing-way n.— «Consider a blessing-way type ceremony in lieu of a traditional shower. This can be adapted to just about every religion I can think of, as well as to people who are not religious. This gets away from the whole material gift thing...
