When Tony from Fort Worth, Texas, ordered chicken fajitas at a restaurant, the server replied Perfect! He’s pretty confident that his order was hardly outstanding, much less perfect. He’s noticed that the response Perfect! doesn’t literally mean...
Our conversation about bang out sick and bang in sick, both meaning to “call one’s employer to say they’re not coming in to work,” prompted a response from historian Judith Flanders, who notes that in the UK, there’s a tradition of banging out...
After our discussion of joking ways to say grace before a meal, Al from Denton, Texas, shares the story of a curmudgeon’s highly efficient one: Much obliged. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “On a Nodding Basis with the Big Guy” Our...
The phrase salt of the earth describes someone who is essential and pure of heart, a reference to the biblical Sermon on the Mount. To salt the earth usually means to render the ground useless, whether metaphorically or literally. This is part of a...
Upsitting once meant the first occasion when a new mother sat up to receive visitors after childbirth and confinement, sometimes with food and a feast. William Charles Baldwin’s 1863 African Hunting, From Natal to Zambesi records another use among...
See the cute little boy making the kissy face on the page for our latest episode? That’s Grant’s son, whom you’ve heard him mention on the show. Guthrie’s now about twice as old as he was then and he’ll be heading to kindergarten this autumn. San...