The word muckle means “grab, seize, or tackle and hold tight,” and it’s especially associated with New Hampshire, Maine, and parts of Massachusetts. Eric from Monroe, New Hampshire, says most people he’s talked with have never heard of it, but his...
A remarkable new documentary explores the world of amateur and professional mermaiding and the language bubbling up within it. Some mermaiding enthusiasts greet each other with a friendly “Shello!” Plus, an adoptee wonders what to call...
What do you call a sticky, gooey, gross substance you can’t identify? Lee in San Antonio, Texas, calls it gookumpucky, a word she inherited from her mother and a great-grandmother descended from Czech and Polish immigrants. It belongs to a family of...
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be...
Melissa in Charlotte, North Carolina, remembers her grandfather would describe something excellent as better than snuff, but not near as dusty. The snuff in this case refers to finely ground smokeless tobacco. It arose at a time when snuff was...
A Havertown, Pennsylvania, listener wonders why her mother used to answer queries about how she was doing with phrase that sounded like either fair to midland or fair to middling. Middling has long meant “just OK” or “right in the middle,” and the...
