Default as a noun and default as a verb are the same word, with a familiar English stress shift: nouns often take first-syllable stress, while verbs often take second-syllable stress, as with the different pronunciations of record. A New York City...
Alisa from Memphis, Tennessee, shares a story about her mother emerging from sedation after a significant head injury. Her mom’s first words were Let’s get down to brass tacks. The phrase means “Let’s get to the point” or “Let’s get down to...
Emily in East Tennessee grew up hearing her West Tennessee father say someone who did something clever had got melon. That likely works because melon is a familiar slang comparison for the human head, the place where the brains are. English has a...
If you’re coming to the lick log or bringing someone to the lick log, you’re getting to a crucial point in negotiations. A lick log is a salt lick being a place where a cattle or other herd animals congregates. This is part of a complete...
Monica in Burlington, Vermont, understood right away when a friend said her day got kerfunkulated. Words such as thingamajiggy, doohickey, whatchamacallit, and dumaflache work as placeholders, filling a gap when speakers do not need, or do not want...
If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric.” And: What’s your relationship with the books on your...
