Pickle, baboon, cupcake, snorkel, pumpkin, Kalamazoo—let’s face it, some words are just plain funny. But what makes some words funnier than others? Martha and Grant consider this question with an assist from Neil Simon’s play (and movie)...
What do you call the wheeled contraption that you push around the grocery store? Shopping cart? Shopping carriage? Shopping wagon? Buggy? A former Kentuckian wonders if anyone besides her calls them bascarts. Check out this dialect map featuring...
Boxing Week n.— «While Boxing Day sales traditionally bolster the bottom line, this year’s sales are going to be more aggressive, both in terms of deeper price cuts and longer duration as stores hope for Black Friday 2. The term...
recessionista n.— «A recessionista is simply some one who seeks fashionable items that are also inexpensive.» —“Fall fashion 2008: The year of the recessionista” by Debra Braggs Press-Register (Alabama) Sept...
cross-shopping n.— «With more car dealers out there now than ever before, consumers also now have more leverage. It’s a common consumer tactic to play two car dealers off each other, or in auto dealer parlance, “cross...
A woman who went to school in New Orleans reports she was startled the first time she heard residents of the Crescent City talk about making groceries rather than buying them. Grant explains the French origins of that expression. This is part of a...