Rose works at a trailer shop south central Pennsylvania and often hears her co-workers adding the element -couple to a round number to indicate an indefinite amount, such as “bring me twenty-couple screws,” in the same way that others might say...
A toad in a hole — that piece of bread with a hole cut out with a fried egg in the middle — sure does come with some alternate nomenclature. Since our earlier discussion, listeners have sent us many other names for it, including fish in a pond...
filler n.— «The man was a “filler” in a photo lineup of six black men. A filler is someone who is not a suspect, but whose photo is included because the filler fits the general description of a suspect who was in the photo lineup. There were six...
It’s the Moby Dick of etymology: Where do we get the phrase “the whole nine yards”? A pediatrician in North Carolina wonders if it derives from a World War II phrase involving “nine yards” of ammunition. Grant and Martha discuss the many theories...