Rodrigo in Tucson, Arizona, shares a funny story about immigrating to the United States from Mexico in the 1990s and picking up the English exclamation gee whiz! from a book published in the 1940s. What’s the origin of this slang phrase...
Janet in Tucson, Arizona, wonders about a phrase she once saw on a business card: Fortune Favors the Audacious. It’s a translation of a saying that goes back to antiquity, with many variations, including “fortune favors the brave”...
Joe, a retired astronomer in Tucson, wonders where odds in What are the odds? comes from. It traces back to odd as the opposite of even: if one stack of coins differs from otherwise equal stacks, it is the odd one. From that sense of difference or...
Store clerks: If someone asks for a case quarter in change, it means they don’t want two dimes and a nickel or five nickels. They want a single 25-cent piece. Same for a case dollar, case dime, or case nickel. The customer is asking for a...
A truck driver in Tucson, Arizona, has a dispute with her boyfriend: If you toss something out, do you chuck it or chunk it? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Chuck It vs. Chunk It” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi...
Does turn up the A.C. mean make the room cooler or raise the thermostat and make it warmer? Kirsten from Tucson, Arizona, asks about the tricky little word up, because with heat, the machine’s effort and the temperature both rise, while with air...