This week on A Way with Words: Restaurant jargon, military slang, and modern Greek turns of phrase. • Some restaurants now advertise that they sell “clean” sandwiches. But that doesn’t mean they’re condiment-free or the...
A Dallas man says his father, who served in Vietnam, signed letters back home to the family with the phrase “don’t take any wooden nickels.” The hosts explain that this expression means “don’t let anyone swindle you...
A Seattle-area veteran remembers that in Vietnam he and others like him were known as cumshaw artists. They were the guys who scared up and “permanently borrowed” whatever their unit needed— gasoline, vehicle parts, or whiskey for a...
We recommend books that make great gifts for language lovers, talk about footwear called go-aheads, and look further into going commando. Also, was the 2008 election a historic event or an historic event?
In an earlier episode, we speculated about the origin of the phrase go commando, which means to go without underwear. We suggested that it was somehow associated with being “tough as a commando,” gritting one’s teeth through the...
shaky Pete syndrome n.— «Frank said that also cigarettes were used in place of marijuana at times because they too calmed the men down from the reality that faced them each day. Even with these so-called “stabilities,” some...