You’re in a business meeting. Is it bad manners to take out your phone to send or read a text? A new study suggests that how you feel about mid-meeting texting differs depending on your age and sex. Grant and Martha offer book recommendations...
Orey-eyed, meaning “enraged,” comes from the Scots language. Orey dates at least as far back as the 1700s, and has meant many different things, including “drunk.” This is part of a complete episode.
Some speakers of American English use the word whenever to refer to a single event, as in “whenever Abraham Lincoln died.” This locution is a vestige of Scots-Irish speech. This is part of a complete episode.
Scottish cringe n.— «Over the past week, as it became clear a decision on Megrahi’s future was imminent, many Scottish pundits and opposition politicians were consumed by what is called the Scottish cringe—the idea that some decisions are...
For 341 years, the poets laureate of Britain have all been male. That just changed with the appointment of Britain’s new poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Her work has been described as “dealing with the darkest turmoil and the lightest...
If a Scotsman says he takes a scunner to something, he means it gives him a feeling of loathing or revulsion. Grant and Martha discuss this term’s possible origins. For more about the word scunner, check out the Dictionary of the Scots...