Mark in Indianapolis, Indiana, wonders about the history of the second person singular and plural in English. At one time, thee and thou were singular, and you and ye were plural. By the early 17th century, thou and thee as familiar terms of address...
Nathaniel, a vegetarian in Vermillion, South Dakota, encountered a tavern sandwich after moving from Kansas City and wondered why a word for a drinking place also names a sandwich. The sandwich is a loose-meat sandwich on a hamburger bun, familiar...
Some business owners give their establishments names like “Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe.” What most people don’t realize is that the letter Y in this case is a vestige of a letter we no longer use, and has a “th” sound. More...
yes-and v.—Gloss: To agree to all ideas, act upon them, and embellish them. Note: A staple of improvisational acting. «They stayed for over an hour and completely yes-anded everything we threw at them. There were moments where it felt...
weenus n.— «Equipment in women’s sizes can sometimes be harder to come by. Some women use newer forms of birth control to make their periods less frequent. Even urinating can become a problem. The military has disbursed portable...
brekko
n.— «Naybody gies ye a fucking el brekko. Ye have to grab this world by the coat-tails.» —by James Kelman You Have to Be Careful in the Land of the Free May 1, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
