Tracy from Sherman, Texas, wonders why her dad always used cabbage as a verb to mean “to pilfer or swipe.” This term goes back to at least the 18th century, when the verb to cabbage had to do with employee theft. Specifically, it referred to the way...
If someone’s balloon has lost its string, it means “they’ve come unmoored”. Something unusual or odd has come about in their character. Patrice Evans used the illustration in his description of Tracy Morgan in an article for Grantland (no relation...
Busman’s holiday is time off spent doing something closely related to one’s work, not necessarily clocking in on a day off. Tracy in Pleasanton, California, remembers using it to describe her father, who worked for TWA at San Francisco airport and...
Where do we get the phrase “belly up”? The expression has made its way to the bar, but the original belly up belonged to a dead fish. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Belly Up” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello, this is Tracy...
A Wyoming native asks about the origin of her father’s term of approbation, good leather. Grant thinks it might be from baseball, where good leather means “good fielding with a leather ball in a leather glove.” This is part of a complete episode...
fake-a-bake n.— «Myth: Sunless tanning, also known as fake-a-bake, is risk-free. Reality: It is true that using any of a variety of lotions, sprays, gels, creams and powders from the multi-million-dollar sunless-tanning industry can impart a sun...
