Sketchy, meaning creepy, alarming, or suspicious, probably grew out of older uses such as sketchy details for something unclear or poorly explained, and from colloquial sketchy for insubstantial or imperfect. After our earlier look at the word, Gwen...
Hockey mom? Staycation? Recessionista? What’s your choice for Word of the Year 2008? Also, what expression do you use to describe when it’s raining but the sun is still shining?
This week’s slang quiz challenges a Seattle video game designer to pick out the correct slang terms from a mishmash of possible answers, including hammantaschen, party party, play pattycake, and get off. This is part of a complete episode...
Mike from San Diego asks about stingaree, a name once used for part of the city’s red-light district and later revived by a swank downtown nightclub. The word could refer to a stingray, but it also had seedier slang senses: a shortchanging con game...
Our hosts bandy about some more political slang terms and explain their meaning and origin. Or did you already know the difference between a moonbat and a wingnut? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Moonbat vs. Wingnut”...
Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words. This one's full of soda-fountain goodness! Let's just say right out of the gate that, judging by the emails and phone calls, the top call for this past weekend's show was the one...
