How do you pronounce rooibos? The name of this tea comes from the Afrikaans words rooi bos, meaning “red bush.” Rooibos is pronounced ROY-boss, but it’s also called bush tea, red tea, or redbush tea. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
A Wisconsin wonders if anyone outside her family uses the word funsel, possibly spelled funcil, to denote “a single strand of leftover cobweb hanging from the ceiling.” That one may be all their own, but another word she asks about, gnurr, meaning...
If you’re described as a tall drink of water, or a a tall glass of water that’s a good thing. It suggests, especially for men, that you’re good-looking. A little more than a century ago, that phrase suggested a person was bland and boring, but it’s...
Nancy Friedman is a naming and branding expert with a fantastic newsletter about language, Fritinancy which recently covered the neologism stinge-watching. It’s the opposite of binge-watching, and refers to the act of spacing out viewings of a...
The exclamation shiver me timbers! has nothing to do with being cold. A different verb shiver means “to shatter into small pieces,” and timbers refers to the wooden beams that make up the structure of a ship’s hull and ribs. Sailors once used...
The Swedish term hemmablind literally means “home blind,” and refers to that state when you’ve lived in your home so long you no longer notice its flaws or your own clutter. This handy Swedish term is one of several introduced in the reality TV...
