Remember misunderstanding certain words as a child? Maybe you figured “cat burglars” only stole cats, or assumed guerrilla fighters must be angry apes. Martha and Grant discuss childhood misunderstandings about language. Also this week...
A Yankee transplant to the South says that restaurant servers are confused when he tells them, “I’m all set.” Is he all set to continue his meal, or all set to leave? This is part of a complete episode.
Howdy! In this week’s episode of “A Way with Words,” we have a whole culch pile of conversation about Yankee dimes, hanging crepe, educational rubrics, and whether the language you speak influences how you think. Here ’tis:...
A North Carolina man says he was surprised as a child when he did a chore for his grandmother, and the Yankee dime she promised him turned out to be a peck on the cheek. This is part of a complete episode.
tivodultery n.— «One of my favorite neologisms is “tivodultery,” coined earlier today, at my request, by my friend James. It describes the act of watching a TV program on your own when you normally watch it with your spouse...
hixploitation n.— «Plenty of movies—from comedies to dramas to horror films—have played profitably off these Yankee fears. To some extent, naturally, a bad rap for the South is justified, given its history of slavery, Jim Crow laws and...