Virginia teacher and playwright Sheri Bailey has some writing advice as smart as it is succinct: “There are no writers — only re-writers.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Rewriters” Here’s some...
Tricia in Chesapeake, Virginia, says if her father was annoyed with her mother, he used to jokingly tell her: Go sit on a tack! It’s another way of saying “Leave me alone!” Similar phrases include go fly a kite, go climb a tree, go...
Ben in Richmond, Virginia, is puzzled by the expression Believe you me. It sounds odd because it mixes up the usual subject-verb-object order in English. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Believe You Me” Hello, you have...
Vivian in San Antonio says when her family returned from a vacation, her dad would announce Home again, home again! Jiggity jig! This saying is actually more than two centuries old, and comes from an old nursery rhyme about farmers going to market...
Mark from Newport News, Virginia, says his mother, who grew up in Fancy Farm, Kentucky, often used a puzzling phrase. To ask how close he was to completing a task, she’d say what sounded like How much do you like? In parts of the Southern...
Betsy in Virginia Beach, Virginia, asks about her family’s word goonus, fondly used for loose, soft flesh on people or animals, from baby thigh rolls to the flap that swings under a cat’s belly. It does not appear in the literature consulted, and it...