A listener who grew up in Newfoundland remembers her grandfather declaring the fog was thick as burgoo. Turns out burgoo was sailors’ slang for a gray, gelatinous oatmeal—exactly the right image for an impenetrable Newfoundland fog. The word appears...
Dining on a budget? Just whip up some necessity mess or a potato bargain. That’s a pork, onion, and potato stew popular in Eastern Massachusetts. Or how about some Georgia ice cream? It’s a North Florida term for grits. Martha shares a generous...
Anagrams, rebuses, cryptograms — Martha and Grant swap stories about the games that first made them realize that playing with words and letters can be fun. Also this week, what’s a jitney supper and where do you eat graveyard stew? The hosts explain...
A Charlottesville, Virginia, caller says that when she was a child and recovering from an illness, her mother fed her a kind of milk toast she called graveyard stew. Is that strange name unique to her family? This is part of a complete episode...
in-law chaser
n.— «Navajo tea/blue corn meal and quiet nights/where is the sage/the mutton stew/in-law chasers/and cool rain.» —“a navajo warrior has gone away” by rustywire Usenet: alt.native July 12, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
chicken a-la-death n.— «While perennial favorites like spaghetti and beef stew please most palates, old classics have fallen out of favor—like Chicken a-la-King, affectionately called by some Chicken a-la-Death.» —“Grub, chow, mystery meat—combat...
