In this week’s installment of Slang This!, a member of the National Puzzlers League tries to separate the real slang terms from the fake ones. Try this one: If you have chutzpah, might you also be said to “have the stitches” to get...
Cleave, dust, and screen are all words that can mean the opposite of themselves. You can cleave to a belief, meaning to “adhere closely,” but you can also separate things by cleaving them. Words that mean the opposite of themselves go by...
We’re continuing our look at some of the words of the year of 2008 with words related to automobiles.
Uh-oh. Your credit card’s missing. As you frantically search for it, your mind fast-forwards through the bad things that could happen if it’s been stolen. Then, to your enormous relief, you find the card. Is there a specific word for the...
For this week’s episode of Slang This!, we turn the tables on our other Quiz Guy, Greg Pliska. Greg has to figure out the difference between dusting and simping, and between johnny pump and reverse toilet. Those last two sound like things you...
Martha tries to unravel the tangled etymological web that connects gossamer, spiders, geese, and warm weather in a late autumn.