Marissa in Tallahassee, Florida, is puzzled when a friend observes that coffee goes through her like salts through a widow-woman, meaning that the beverage makes its way swiftly through her digestive system. The expression, which has been around...
Jeannie in Spring Branch, Texas, says her grandmother, who far outlived her husband, described herself as a weeds widow. Since this term is extremely rare, it’s possible her grandmother conflated the terms widows weeds and grass widow. The former is...
Although in English we have the terms orphan, widow, and widower, our language lacks a one-word term that means “bereaved parent.” A few other languages have a word for this, including Hebrew sh’khol and Sanskrit vilomah. This is part of a complete...
A listener in Reno, Nevada, wants to know: If one member of a long-term, unmarried couple dies, what’s a good term for the surviving partner, considering that the usual terms widow and widower aren’t exactly correct? This is part of a complete...
White-livered, like lily-livered, can mean cowardly or timid. Cree, whose grandmother is from Mississippi, heard a different Southern folk meaning: a person with a white liver, or white spots on the liver, was thought to have an insatiable sexual...
What’s a grass widow? In the 1500s, this term applied to a woman with loose sexual morals. Over time, it came to mean a woman who’s been separated from her husband, or a divorcée. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Grass Widow”...