Get a shower or take a shower? Grace, a caller from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says her fiancé, also from Philadelphia, always says he’s going to get a shower, while she always says she’s going to take a shower. North American English usually...
A kerfuffle is a fuss, bother, or disturbance. It’s from Scots curfuffle, likely from Scottish Gaelic car, meaning “turn,” “bend,” or “twist,” plus fuffle, a Scots word that means “to disorder” or “to ruffle.” Early forms like carfuffle and...
An upscuddle, also spelled upscuttle, is defined in both the Dictionary of American Regional English and the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English (Bookshop|Amazon) as a type of quarrel. A 1913 reference uses the term this way: “If they...
Leslie from Hickory, North Carolina, is curious about an expression her grandmother used when the weather was particularly warm. Leslie never saw the expression spelled out, but she guesses it was hot as bringup, and pronounced with a soft g. Was...
In Scotland and parts of Northern England, dwadle means to “waste time,” “loiter,” or “linger.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “If It Dwadles Like a Dawdler…” Hello, you have A...
In parts of Appalachia, the southern United States, and a few other places, the expression I don’t care to is understood to mean “I wouldn’t mind to.” In other words, I don’t care to may mean exactly the opposite of...