More than you can shake a stick at likely comes from counting. A herdsman bringing cattle or sheep in at day’s end would tap or point at each animal with a stick to keep a tally, so a herd too large to count that way was more than he could...
You know those words whose meanings never seem to stick in your mind, no matter how many times you flip back to the dictionary? Martha wrestles with the term atavistic, meaning “the tendency to revert to ancestral characteristics.” She now remembers...
Should we use try and or try to? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage says it’s grammatically permissible to “try and go to the store,” or to ask someone to “try and speak up.” However, a fan of formality...
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.” Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: slatch...
A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get “on the stick.” The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is “on the ball.” Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option...
pee stick n.—Gloss: A long, thin device on which a woman urinates in order to determine if she is pregnant. Note: Common but as far as can be told unrecorded in dictionaries. «Does the newly designed 2010 Olympic torch look like a joint...