Nikki in Northampton, Massachusetts, wonders about a term her dad used for someone who’s a little odd or weird: do funny. As far back as the 1850s, Do funny or Doo funny was an amusing last name for characters in satire, whether in newspapers...
A hootenanny, commonly thought of as a party in Appalachia, is also a term for German pancakes. But when you look in the Dictionary of American Regional English, you’ll notice that hootenanny is synonymous with doohickey or thingamajig, and...
A law student wonders about the origin of the word widget. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of Widget” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, my name’s Arela Wright from Indianapolis, Indiana, and I was...