A man from Fort Smith, Arkansas, says his Canadian wife is baffled by his pronouncing the word cement as CEE-ment. Stressing the first syllable of such words as police, insurance, umbrella, and vehicle is an occasional feature of Southerners’...
Novelist Charles Dickens created many unforgettable characters, but he’s also responsible for coining or popularizing lots of words, like “flummox” and “butterfingers.” Also, the life’s work of slang lexicographer...
If a Southerner warns she’s going to put a spider on your biscuit, it means she’s about to give you bad news. This is part of a complete episode.
In place of pardon or excuse me, it’s common to hear a Texan or a Southerner say, “Do what?” Variations include “What now?”, “Do how?”, and “Do which?” This is part of a complete episode.
Is there a word you keep having to look up in the dictionary, no matter how many times you’ve looked it up before? Maybe it’s time for a mnemonic device. And: a listener shares a letter from Kurt Vonnegut himself, with some reassuring...