This week: whether cotton-pickin’ is racist, unintentionally funny headlines, whether enormity can simply mean “enormous,” how a person can be “such a pill,” and pandiculation. “It’s good stuff, Maynard...
Why are the names of cars so unimaginative? Grant argues that auto manufacturers might take inspiration from ornithology to build a better car name. (Then again, would you be any less aggravated if you were rear-ended by a lazuli bunting?) Also this...
Chicken bog isn’t a bird name, nor is it a place. It’s a dish of rice, chicken, country sausage, and lots of black pepper, found primarily in the Southeast. It sometimes goes by the name chicken perlow or pillow or pilau. A South...
In certain parts of the South, a small, impromptu gift is variously known by the sibilant synonyms sirsee, surcy, searcy, or circe. A South Carolina woman who’s heard the word all her life is baffled as to where it came from. This is part of a...
gloating n.— «“I have an older window from a house in England that I’m repairing for a customer.” For many of these repairs, Oneppo uses a technique called “gloating glass.” “It’s a trick I picked up when I was working in Charlotte,” he...
firehouse primary n.— «The presidential primary in South Carolina is known as a “firehouse primary,” as it is being held in conjunction with the party’s precinct meetings at which local party officers are elected and delegates...