Who is she from home? meaning “What’s her maiden name?” is a construction common in communities with significant Polish heritage. It’s what linguists call a calque — a word or phrase from another language translated literally into another. From home...
Bob in Oceanside, California, learned the practical range of Spanish mordida in Baja: it can mean an actual bite, as in a warning about a dog, and in Mexico it can also mean a bribe, the sort demanded instead of a ticket. The English expression put...
Jordan from Olympia, Washington, asks about oddball school mascots and the origin of the word mascot. Evergreen State College’s Geoduck — a giant clam native to the Pacific Northwest — belongs in the same memorable company as the UC Santa Cruz...
You pick up what you think a glass of water and take a sip, but it turns out to be Sprite. What’s the word for that sensation when you’re expecting one thing and taste something else? Also, slang from college campuses, like ratchet and dime piece...
Blueblood, a term often used to refer to WASPy or patrician folks, goes back to the 1700s and the Spanish term sangre azul. It described the class of people who never had to work outside or expose themselves to the sun, so blue veins would show...
Who is Boo-Boo the Fool? A listener wonders if this African-American character has any relation the Puerto Rican fool, Juan Bobo. Martha draws a connection to the Spanish term bobo, meaning “fool,” and its Latin root balbus, meaning “stammerer.” The...
