Joan from Dallas, Texas, asks about to wing it, meaning to improvise or proceed with little preparation. The phrase does not come from pilots or flying by guesswork, but from the slang of 19th-century theater. It referred to understudies who learned...
In an earlier conversation, we discussed the term gypsy and its ugly history as a slur against the Roma people. That history prompted the Actors’ Equity Association to choose a new name for its traditional Gypsy Robe. For decades, this garment...
Barbara in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, wonders whether her mother’s favorite warning that a crowded place would be “a mob scene” was a family invention. The expression has been around since at least the late 1800s and comes from theater, where...
Why are pants, trousers, shorts, and jeans plural in English? Rob in Barnstable, Massachusetts, asks about garments that are now usually one piece, unlike socks. The plural goes back to older two-legged garments made as separate pieces fastened at...
In theater slang, a bucklebuster is a line that’s sure to get a big laugh. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bucklebuster” You know what a buckle buster is? Sunday? Brunch? Twice? I guess it could be. I guess it...
What’s the best way for someone busy to learn lots of new words quickly for a test like the GRE? Looking up their origins can help. Or, record yourself reading the words and definitions and play them back while you’re doing other chores...
