Gabriel, near Baltimore, grew up in Utah and startled a Portland friend by asking him to put some papers in the jockey box. The term means a car’s glove compartment or glove box, and it turns up especially in Idaho and Utah, with some wider...
toothpick rule n.— «Even so, awareness of the new law is so high that Parven Pomper Vice President Alixandria Lapp, for one, made sure to run its reception menu by a lawyer before taking it to the caterers. Under what is known as the...
bottom fisher n.— «Some of the new capital comes from what are called “bottom fishers”—investors who are willing to buy some of the dicey IOUs from banks at a healthy discount.» —“Is It Over?” by Irwin M...
“Go fly a kite!” A caller from Washington, D.C. wonders whose kite is getting flown and why. Naturally, we have some ideas! Here’s a copy of the cartoon Grant mentions (from the Chicago Tribune May 15, 1927, p. G2). This is part of...
diplomatic surge n.— «President George W. Bush this week celebrated security gains from the US troop “surge” in Iraq—but made clear that US hopes rest heavily on what some aides call “the diplomatic surge...
A Washington, D.C. caller wonders whether there’s a difference between the words grey and gray. Do they designate exactly the same thing? Why are they spelled differently. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Grey vs...