Charles in Virginia asks about breaking bad, a phrase he grew up hearing to mean “raise hell,” “get wild,” or stop being nice, as in threatening to “break bad on” someone. Vince Gilligan, a Virginian, made the expression nationally familiar with the...
A listener from Charlottesville, Virginia, is dating a professional golfer who often plays a Calcutta with other tour members. Calcutta, a betting game going back over 200 years, involves every player betting before the tournament on who they think...
Old Ed’ards sayings (from old Edward, and also spelled old Eddard or old Eddered) were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo...
Leanne in Richmond, Virginia, heard sitting high and looking low in a Social Security office, where it seemed to describe an employee acting superior to people waiting for help. The expression is used mostly in African American contexts and is...
Leah from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, asks why the peninsula shared by Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia is called Delmarva. The name is a geographic portmanteau, built from Del-, mar-, and -va, much like nearby blended place names such as Delmar and...
Dog chewing waspers, a Virginia expression Rona heard from her father in the Blue Ridge area, pictures someone chewing gum with their mouth open and plenty of teeth showing. Waspers means wasps, with related pronunciations such as warshpers heard in...
