A kindergartener misunderstands the name of an event at his school, insisting to his mother that he attended a pepper alley, not a pep rally. Let’s hope that’s the case, because pepper alley is actually 19th-century boxing slang for...
Amelia in Arlington, Virginia, was surprised to hear her wife, who is from Iowa, use the phrase getting the goody out to describe someone sporting a well-worn pair of sweatpants, indicating that they were continuing to get the most out of that...
Why do we use the word heat to denote a preliminary qualifying race? Hundreds of years ago, a single instance of heating something such as a piece of metal over a fire for metalworking was called a heat. Later that term was applied to “a round...
Mike in Jacksonville, Florida, is curious about the phrase There’s no use in keeping the dogs and doing the barking yourself. His dad would use it when delegating a chore to one of his kids. As early as the 1500s, the proverb Don’t keep...
–ting suffix— «“Mee-t’ing” or simply “t’ing.” A blind date. Sometimes a “so-gae t’ing” (lit. “introductory date”). Some folks used to speak jokingly of “eh-rae-bae-i-taw t’ing,”...
–ting suffix denoting an activitity related to dating. Etymological Note: 팅 < Eng. meeting. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)