Gary Provost, author of Make Your Words Work, made a career of offering great writing advice, including: “Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The...
Emily in Colchester, Vermont, asks about hark your racket, a phrase her mother heard from a coworker who called it a Vermont expression meaning “be quiet,” “pipe down,” or “stop complaining.” The exact form is hard to find in print, but Dictionary...
Ruth from Hanover, New Hampshire, asks about “Balderdash!”, the dismissive outburst for claims that sound like nonsense. The word’s ancestry remains uncertain, despite old attempts to link it with Danish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, Welsh, or Gaelic...
It used to be that you called any mixed-breed dog a mutt. But at today’s dog parks, you’re just as likely to run into schnugs, bassadors, and dalmadoodles. Also, if someone has a suntan, you might say he’s brown as a berry. But...
Gawpy is an old term for “foolish,” and refers to the image of a person gaping stupidly. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Gawpy” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, Martha. Hi. This is Oliver in Chicago...
Brown as a berry goes back to Chaucer and the 1300’s, when brown was the new dark purple. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Expression from The Canterbury Tales” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Yeah, my name is...