Jim in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, says that during childhood games of touch football, he and his friends would count out the required three seconds before rushing as Mississippi one, Mississippi two, Mississippi three. Other ways of counting seconds...
A triathlete in Traverse City, Michigan, calls to say she’s going stir-crazy while recuperating from an injury. The term stir-crazy makes sense if you know that stir is an old synonym for “prison.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Gabe from Newark and Michigan asks about the fighting challenge “Put up your dukes,” a phrase that treats dukes as fists or hands. A familiar explanation connects it with Cockney rhyming slang: Dukes of York rhymes with fork, once slang for “hand.”...
dick v. to watch or to keep under surveillance. Editorial Note: There are also, of course, a wide variety of sex-related slang homonyms that are well-covered elsewhere. Etymological Note: The Historical Dictionary of American Slang attributes this...