A San Antonio, Texas, listener recalls that when she was a youngster, she’d pester her mother by asking the name of lots and lots of rocks on the ground. Her mother eventually began referring to those specimens as leaverites — as in “leave ’er...
Susan in San Antonio uses John Henry at work to mean a signature, as in needing a co-worker’s John Henry on a return form. She’s not alone, but the much more common version is John Hancock, from the famously large signature of John Hancock on the...
A San Antonio, Texas, woman wonders about a tradition she grew up with. Before drinking an alcoholic beverage, you hand the drink to someone else to have a sip in order to take the devil out of it. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Martha shares a letter from a San Antonio, Texas, listener about a child’s misunderstanding of the word sophisticated. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Child’s Sophisticated Misunderstanding” Welcome to A...
A San Antonio, Texas, middle-schooler has observed that when she and her friends are texting, they use different spellings to indicate agreement. Her friend types OK, but the caller prefers okay. Either is correct. For an engaging, thorough history...
A San Antonio, Texas, woman who has taught at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base, says one of her Spanish-speaking students taught her the equivalent of the pot calling the kettle black: el conejo gritando orejon, which...