A listener in Lashio, Myanmar, reports that a term of endearment in the local language translates as “my little liver.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “My Little Liver” Our conversation about terms...
No great shakes means not impressive, no big deal, or nothing much to boast about. Kat in Dallas learned it from her mother and found that friends sometimes took it for a family oddity, but the expression has been around at least since the early...
A Greencastle, Indiana, caller is bothered when his colleagues talk about servicing a customer–and with good reason. Servicing a client has long been associated with prostitution. Serving a client is a better phrase. This is part of a complete...
A Marietta, Georgia, listener says her high school English teacher challenged her to find words that start with un- or in- that mean the same thing with or without the prefix. The list includes ravel and unravel, flammable and inflammable, loosen...
The slang phrase XYZ, meaning “examine your zipper,” has been used since at least the 1960s as a subtle tipoff to let someone know his zipper is down. A variant, XYZ PDQ, means “examine your zipper pretty darn quick.” Other surreptitious suggestions...
A bollard is a post that helps guide traffic. It probably derives from the Middle English word bole, meaning “tree trunk.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bollard” Am I the only person who didn’t know...