Vince from Brooklyn, New York, remembers growing up there and using the expression cut a chogi! to mean “beat it!” or “get away from here!” He’d assumed it was simply Brooklynese until years later in Alabama, when he...
Jason in San Antonio, Texas, is curious why the term salamander is applied to small heater on a construction site. In ancient lore, the mythical beast called a salamander was impervious to fire. Later salamander was applied to various heating...
A caller from San Antonio, Texas, remembers a song her father, a World War II vet, used to sing: “Around the corner and under a tree / A sergeant major proposed to me / Who would marry you? I would like to know / For every time I look at your...
An anachronism is something that’s placed in the wrong time period, like a Roman soldier wearing Birkenstocks. But what’s the word for if someone or something is literally out of place geographically speaking? You can use the word...
locked up adj.— «Having survived the “Aladdin” test, Pvt. Kyle Brower, 18 years old and just a few months removed from civilian life, was able to stand still and stare into the middle distance during his first dignified...
360-365 combat n.— «Soldiers call the war “360-365 Combat” meaning that not only infantry, but all soldiers, are constantly under combat conditions while deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. This produces enormous stress...