For English speakers of a certain age, film at 11 is a slang phrase means “You’ll hear the details later.” It’s a reference to the days before 24-hour cable news, when newscasters would read headlines during the day promoting the 11 p.m. broadcast...
J. Redding Ware’s 1909 Passing English of the Victorian Era preserves slang that would otherwise vanish with the voices that used it. Its entry for please mother open the door even prints a staff of music, explaining that the phrase expressed...
The slang phrase XYZ, meaning “examine your zipper,” has been used since at least the 1960s as a subtle tipoff to let someone know his zipper is down. A variant, XYZ PDQ, means “examine your zipper pretty darn quick.” Other surreptitious suggestions...
Among some Spanish speakers, the slang phrase sacapuntas en huevos refers to someone so stubbornly persistent, they could sharpen an egg. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Sharpen an Egg” We talked about sacapuntas, you remember...
What do your pronouns say about your own psychological makeup? If you use the word I a lot, does it mean you’re a leader . . . or a follower? A surprising study suggests that people of lower status in a group tend to use I the most. Also, a look at...
This week’s Slang This! contestant is from Boston. She shares a slang phrase making the rounds among her friends at MIT: “find your pants.” She then tries to guess the meaning of the slang term boilover and the obscure word nycthemeron. This is part...
