Addie in Neenah, Wisconsin, seeks the origin of a word her grandfather used for gunk that gets stuck, such as a bit of food between one’s teeth. The dialectal term is likely ackempucky, which, according to the Dictionary of American Regional...
A caller in Cooperstown, North Dakota, remembers her West Virginia-born grandmother’s stern warning: Willful waste will lead to woeful want. The more common version, Wilful waste makes woeful want, goes back to the 18th century. Other versions...
Nick in Cincinnati, Ohio, is fond of his Appalachian-born grandmother’s phrase colder than blitney, meaning “extremely cold” or “cold as the dickens.” It’s likely a version of cold as blixen, which has a number of other variants including blitzen...
To be in a brown study means to be “deep in thought,” and often refers to gloomy or melancholy contemplation. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Brown Study” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Molly White. I’m from San...
When Matt was growing up in western North Carolina, he heard the word gaum, also spelled gom, meaning a mess. Someone misbehaving might be described as gauming around, or something was gaumed up, meaning messed up, or a person was dismissed as...
You’re not a true resident of Poca, West Virginia, if you’re not cheering on the local high school, the Poca Dots. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Poca Dots” You know, there’s a town in West Virginia called Poca, P-O-C-A. It’s...