Elias in Laramie, Wyoming, says his grandmother used to say Tut, tut to mean No, no. Like tsk, tsk, it’s a sound made between the teeth to show disapproval. Surprisingly, both expressions originally spelled out the same sound but they’ve come to be pronounced as they’re written, too. 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...
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I always considered Tsk Tsk to mean that’s a shame too bad etc