Oh, the agony of nernees, those little pieces of plastic or metal that seem to have no purpose. Only until you throw them out will you realize how essential they were! This slang term is sometimes used among those who work in technical theater. This...
He’s a real trouper is the traditional spelling, with trouper from a theatrical troupe and the old stage ethic of the show must go on. Jean in Sharon, Pennsylvania, asks because she teaches theater and sees the competing trooper, which evokes...
A Tacoma, Wash., police report from 1946 is chock-full of showy police slang, from the punk on the stem to the handle of the beefer. Read the whole thing here. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “1946 Police Slang” Hello...
English is full of unusual terms, both old (eleemosynary, favonian) and new (flyaway, catio). Also, the Swahili term that means “sleep like a log,” the multiple meanings of the word joint, cowpies and horse biscuits, what it means to...
Downton Abbey, a program featured on Masterpiece Theater, provided a handful of colorful expressions that date surprisingly far back. “Like it or lump it,” meaning “deal with it,” is found at least as early as 1830 and takes...
News reports that the makers of Scrabble were changing the rules to allow proper names left some purists fuming. The rumors were false, but they got Grant thinking about idiosyncratic adaptations of the game’s rules. Also this week, the...
