In Korea, fairy tales often begin with the saying In the old days, when tigers used to smoke. Turkish children often hear an opening like this one: Once there was, once there was not, when camels were town criers and fleas were barbers, when I rocked my grandfather’s cradle back gently. Then the story begins. This is part of a complete episode.
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...
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