One listener’s term, tee-ella-berta, is among hundreds of euphemisms for the derriere, including tee-hiney, tee-hineyboo, and tee-hinder. This is part of a complete episode.
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One listener’s term, tee-ella-berta, is among hundreds of euphemisms for the derriere, including tee-hiney, tee-hineyboo, and tee-hinder. This is part of a complete episode.
According to Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English (Bookshop|Amazon) by Ben Yagoda, the word smarmy, meaning “unctuous” or “ingratiating,” may come from a 19th-century magazine contest, in which readers sent in...
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
Although I haven’t heard the phrase in question, I do have a possible suggestion regarding it’s source. If the grandmother or her family happened to come from an area near Alabama, its possible that the phrase was created through a simple substitution. As you may know, Alabama has a very interesting shape; it is generally rectangular, with a small tail at the southern end. At the bottom of this tail is the city of Elberta, AL. Starting with the more well known tee-hiney (et. al.) and replacing “hiney” with the city at the “bottom” of Alabama, you would end up with Tee-Elberta.