A listener in Colby, Wisconsin, says that growing up, she called a drink with ice cream in root beer a black cow. But when she moved to Wisconsin, she found that the locals called the same beverage a root beer float. The era of drugstore fountains...
A hopeful Ethiopian proverb: When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “When Spider Webs Unite” Music Here’s a great Ethiopian proverb. When spider webs unite, they can tie up...
A money spider, also known as a money spinner, is a tiny arachnid that dangles from a thread overhead. Don’t swat at it! According to folklore, if it lands on you, you’ll come into money. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
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. Transcript of “Spider in Your Biscuit” Grant, how would you feel if I told you...
Cobwebs are spiderwebs, especially the dusty, abandoned kind that need sweeping away. Middle English coppe or cop meant “spider” or “round thing,” and cob survives mostly in this compound. A related old word, attercop, combines a word for “poison”...
Why are skillets also called spiders? Some of the three-legged, long-handled pans used for frying actually resemble spiders. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Spider Skillet” Here’s a slang word from 1888 that...
