Jodi, a native of California’s Central Valley, grew up using the word erp (or urp or earp) for vomiting—only to discover as a child that no one outside her family had heard it. The Dictionary of American Regional English documents urp as...
A listener named Kio from Los Angeles says she spent some time in England, and while her colleagues there claimed that her valley girl slang was rubbing off on them, she herself picked up plenty of English slang. This is a classic linguistic...
Teaching our children, and some advice for writers. Suppose your child is eager to tackle a difficult subject–ancient Greek, for example–but you know his reach exceeds his grasp? The challenge is to support the child’s curiosity...
It’s been a while since Moon Unit Zappa and the Valley Girl craze slipped out of the popular eye, which is likely why the sarcastic quip, “I’m so sure!” had one listener tripped up. This is part of a complete episode...
To get your fix of amusing typos like, “Illegally parked cars will be fine,” and other errors that can’t be mentioned on public radio, try the book Just My Typo. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Amusing...
If you’re still hung up on the lay vs. lie rule, here’s a poem for you. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Poem for Lay vs. Lie” Like, oh my God! Valley Girl! Like, totally! Valley Girl! Encino’s like...