When the crest of a rooster’s comb falls down toward their beak, they appear sad, or crestfallen. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Crestfallen” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello, this is Kate. Hi, Kate...
“Whistling girls and cackling hens always come to some bad end,” said people in the olden days regarding transgressive women. A variation on this saying pops up in a 1911 book called Folk-Lore of Women by one Reverend Thomas Thiselton...
Crack of chicken is Elizabeth in Dallas’s phrase for an absurdly early hour, a playful mashup of crack of dawn and rooster-or-chicken expressions such as when the cock crows, up with the chickens, and go to bed with the chickens. The variant crack...
Grandparent names don’t stop at Grandma and Grampa. After a Baton Rouge newspaper asked readers for unusual family names, the replies filled a “grandparents’ glossary” with forms such as Gammy, Bumpy, Kiki, Monga, Pots, Rah-Rah, and Woo-Woo. Many...