Susan in San Antonio uses John Henry at work to mean a signature, as in needing a co-worker’s John Henry on a return form. She’s not alone, but the much more common version is John Hancock, from the famously large signature of John Hancock on the...
Some countries have strict laws about naming babies. New Zealand authorities, for example, denied a request to name some twins Fish and Chips. • Halley’s Comet seen centuries before English astronomer Edmund Halley ever spotted it...
Vicki from New York City asks about catch you on the flip side, a parting phrase meaning “see you later.” The flip side originally referred to the B side of a vinyl record, especially a 45, but the fuller expression is best documented during the...
A woman in Virginia Beach, Virginia, wants to know the pronunciation of floccinaucinihilipilification, and why such a long word means “the habit of estimating something as worthless.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
In an earlier episode, we talked about the butterfly mating behavior known as hilltopping, in which male butterflies try to appeal to females by flying as high as possible. A listener in Fairbanks, Alaska, reports that the term hilltopping is used...
A listener in Fort Rucker, Alabama, remembers a prank played on new Army recruits: when a sergeant barked the order “Zonk!,” all the seasoned soldiers would fall out of formation and run away, leaving the newbies to wonder what was going...