Tabitha from Palmer, Alaska, grew up hearing her mother from southern Missouri say Stop wooling me! when a restless child was squirming on her lap. The verb wool, as in wooling someone or wooling a baby around, has been heard in parts of the South...
A listener shares a story about how she went from hating the nickname her grandmother bestowed on her to regarding it with fondness many years later. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Learning to Love a Nickname”...
We talked about pangrams in an earlier episode, which prompted a delicious one from Laura in Colt’s Neck, New Jersey: I quickly mixed up a dozen jelly donuts for the big variety show. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A...
After we puzzled over a caller’s use of the term Jack Roses to signal a sudden shift in conversational topics, Christye from Abilene, Texas, wrote to say that when that happens to her, she says, You didn’t put your blinker on! The word blinker is...
Megan from Seal Beach, California, adores her red-headed daughter, but now that Megan’s remarried, she and her family are mulling the phrase I’m going to beat you like a red-headed stepchild. Other versions include a red-haired stepchild...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle requires finding proper names hidden inside phrases. For example, find the masculine moniker is camouflaged within this phrase: the pool I’ve recently drained. This is part of a complete episode...
