What’s the origin of the phrase “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise”? It has to do with travel and farming and nothing whatsoever to do with Native Americans. Back when wagons rode on low gravel roads, you couldn’t...
What came first, the color orange or the fruit? The original term is Sanskrit and refers to the fruit. As the fruit traveled west, the word came with it. Grant notes that, like the terms for parts of the body, the names of colors travel very well in...
lazylancing
n.— «Lazylancing is when you subsidize your travel with freelance work.» —“Recession Lexicon: Lazylancing” by Sara Clemence Recessionwire Aug. 5, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
funemployment n.— «What most people would call unemployment, Van Gorkom embraced as “funemployment.” While millions of Americans struggle to find work as they face foreclosures and bankruptcy, others have found a silver lining...
infodemic n.— «Is it an abundance of caution, or an abundance of panic and fear? An epidemic or an “infodemic?” What constitutes responsible action at a time when fear prevails?» —“The Travel Detective Responds to Joe Biden and the...
Whoa, hey! It's another newsletter from Martha and Grant, hosts of "A Way with Words." How's your handwriting? Penmanship is one of the things we talked about on our latest episode, as well as "creaky voice" (kind of the...