What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originating in Asia—the tomatoes came only later! Plus, a new book shows what’s lost when a language dies: when there...
A caller in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, says that when his grandfather was asked how he was doing, he’d reply, “running like a pickle seeder,” meaning “doing really well.” The joke, of course, is that there’s no such thing as a...
If the word consecutively doesn’t feel exciting enough, there’s always hand-running. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hand-Running” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, my name is Jan Haller. I’m...
Beast means something like awesome or cool among fifth and sixth graders. Elaine, a speech therapist at a school in Indianapolis, called to share that her students say that is so beast and I beasted that. The verb form has appeared in college slang...
There’s an old joke running around that goes as follows, “Lost: Bald, one-eyed ginger Tom, crippled in both back legs, recently castrated, answers to the name of ‘Lucky.'” Nigel Rees of The Quote Unquote Newsletter has been...
A Carlsbad, California, couple has a running debate over whether an egregious whopper is correctly called a bold-faced lie or a bald-faced lie. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bold-Faced vs. Bald-Faced” Hi, you have A...