Remember a few years ago when Amazon introduced that mysterious device called a Kindle? People worried that electronic readers would replace traditional books. Turns out the death of the hardcover was greatly exaggerated. Also, the expression “bump...
Chris from Harrisonburg, Virginia, grew up in Pittsburgh saying jaggin around or jagging around for goofing off, teasing, or playing tricks. This classic Pittsburghese term is tied to the old verb jag, “to prick, stab, or jab,” so the teasing sense...
The Dictionary of American Regional English traces you-uns, a plural form of you, to the Midlands and the Ohio River Valley. But the phrase goes back a while; even Chaucer used something similar. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
What’s the possessive of y’all? Is it y’all’s? Y’alls? Y’alls’s? What do all ya’ll think?
Martha talks about the hoopoe, that colorful, clownish, extremely smelly bird—with a likely linguistic connection to defrauded hedge fund investors.
foiler n.— «Note that Blair won’t be an only child for long if Cyrus does marry Eleanor. His son Aaron (the artist now dating Serena) would become Blair’s step-brother, just like in the books. Oh, and just a warning to anyone searching for “Gossip...