The expression sky-blue pink is what’s known as a “fobbing off phrase,” a playful, nonsensical answer for when a child asks one too many questions. Variations include sky blue pink with a finny haddy border (the word haddy meaning “Scottish smoked...
A Charlotte, North Carolina, shares her granddaughter’s adorable misunderstanding of a word. When a breeze was blowing, the little girl would say it’s winding (rhyming more or less with “wending” rather than...
Louie from Black Hills, South Dakota, recalls the time his girlfriend fell off a paddleboard and into a lake, at which point his father declared She bit the farm! This peculiar locution is most likely his dad’s own combination of two...
Family surnames often derive from occupations, locations, or physical characteristics, so Quiz Guy John Chaneski has crafted a puzzle about fictitious origins of people’s last names. For example, many folks have farmers in their ancestry, but...
Chris from Kittery, Maine, wonders about the colloquial expression no sirree, Bob! or yes sirree, Bob!, which is an emphatic way of saying “definitely not!” or “no way!” The sirree (sometimes spelled with one r, as siree) in this phrase suggests...
Sylvia in Bismarck, North Dakota, has fond memories of churning homemade ice cream with her family. When one family member offers to take over the task from another, they might say Want me to spell you? or Want me to spell you off? Both these...
