A Georgia caller says when her grandfather had to make a sudden stop while driving, he’d yell “hold ‘er Newt, she smells alfalfa!” This phrase and variations like “hold ‘er Newt, she’s a-headin’ for...
One folksy way to take leave after a visit is to say, It’s time to put the chairs in the wagon. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Put the Chairs in the Wagon” Grant, I love collecting expressions of greeting and...
Saucered and blowed is an idiom meaning that a project is finished or preparations are complete, but it’s not that odd—Bill Clinton’s used it. It derives from the rustic practice of spilling boiling-hot coffee into a saucer and blowing...
The word victuals is pronounced like “vittles” and refers to cooked foods and shares a Latin root with vitamin and vitality. Sometimes it’s spelled vittles, a form often associated with more informal or rustic speech. This is part...
No single established term fits exactly for the feel of saying a word apart from its meaning, though mouthfeel comes close. Tracy from Dallas, Texas, likes the way suitcase moves in the mouth but not rural, a contrast akin to how wine tasters talk...
Ever heard a school bus called a school hack? Grant and Martha explain the etymology of hack, beginning with hackney horses in England, then referring to the drivers of the horse-drawn carriages, then the carriages themselves, and finally the...