After our conversation about knitters’ slang, including the term stash, meaning “a supply of yarn not currently in use,” a Texas listener shares the message she saw on a sign at her local crafts shop: I hope my husband doesn’t sell my stash for what...
Sean in New York City is curious about the expression the business end, as in the business end of a gun. It’s simply “the end of an object that fulfills its function or purpose,” such as the business end of a shovel, the business end of a nail, the...
All aboard! Cap’n John, a.k.a. as Quiz Guy John Chaneski, invites you on a series of rhyming cruises. Just as a booze cruise features lots of alcoholic beverages, John’s excursions have themes that also rhyme with the word cruise. For example, one...
All writers should heed the advice of Stephen King: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Stephen King Quote for Writers” I’ve got some writing advice...
A bartender wonders about the origin of the term jockey box. In his world, a jockey box is a metal container for ice. However, in some parts of the western U.S., a jockey box is the glove compartment of a car, and much earlier, the term referred to...
Is that a winklehawk in your pants? A listener shares this word for those L-shaped rips in your trousers, from an old Dutch term for “a carpenter’s L-shaped tool.” And Grant has a new favorite term, motherwit, meaning “the natural ability to cope...
