In a sweaty letter to a friend while vacationing on the island of Elba, poet Dylan Thomas wrote colorfully and expressively about a terrible heat wave, complaining that, among other things, “My brains are hanging out like a dog’s tongue...
A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referred to a printing device used to produce lots of identical copies. • The link between tiny mythical creatures called trolls and modern-day...
On our Facebook group, listeners share their terms for menopausal hot flashes, including short private vacation in the tropics, temperature tantrum, short private trip to the Sahara, and my inner child is playing with matches. This is part of a...
Do you ever spend your off-time doing something work related? This is known as a busman’s holiday or a postman’s holiday, as in the British understanding of holiday as a vacation or time off work. Research for a dictionary entry on...
Katrina cottage n.— «Earlier this year, the group’s board of directors decided to build what are commonly called “Katrina Cottages” to house the visiting artists. The small wooden homes were originally designed to be...
Welcome to the A Way with Words newsletter, where "language" is our middle name. "Dangerous" was taken. This weekend we told you what a "trailer queen" and a "soup spitter" are, and we took a punny quiz about...