Wrapping up 2016 with words from the past year and some newsy limericks. Bigly and Brexit were on lots of lips this year, as well as an increasingly popular Danish word that means “cozy.” Also, Quiz Guy John Chaneski sums up the year in...
Leslie in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, grew up in western Nebraska hearing the roadside ditch beside a raised road called a borrow pit, especially in a construction family. That form is real regional usage, found more often in the West and around...
Giving your baby an unusual moniker may seem like a great idea at the time. But what if you have second thoughts? One mother of a newborn had such bad namer’s remorse, she poured out her heart to strangers online. Speaking of mothers and...
Jay in Florida Home, Florida, grew up in a small North Florida community with five jook joints, places to dance, drink, gamble, and get into trouble. Jook, often juke, appears to have reached American English through Gullah communities in South...
If a restaurant menu states, “We cook off our potatoes,” what in the heck does that mean? A truck driver who encountered such an announcement at a roadside cafe is still puzzling over what it means to “cook off” a tuber. He...
skeet-shooting n.— «A special technique, known as “skeet-shooting,” was developed by controllers to cancel out the high speed of the moon relative to Cassini and also help obtain ultra-sharp views as the spacecraft sped past...