Home » Segments » A Wasper is a Flyer with a Stinger

A Wasper is a Flyer with a Stinger

Logan in Frankfort, Kentucky, says when he was growing up in the southeastern part of the state, he’d hear people using the word wasper for the insect most people call a wasp. This dialectal variant is common in Appalachia, along with wast and warsper. In that same area, people sometimes add that ending to words such as musician and billfold, saying musicianer or billfolder. This variant may reflect settlement patterns. In the UK, the word jasper is sometimes used for “wasp.” This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More from this show

Boodle on Beaver Island

A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies...