Susan from Seattle, Washington, has observed her toddler granddaughter starting to exclaim Uh-oh! when something goes amiss. Is that something she picked up from adults, or do adults pick it up from children? By 18 months, children have already developed a repertoire of two-word expressions, and they acquire uh-oh at a time when they’re starting to learn about values between yes and no, and nuances of meaning. They begin to learn, for example, that uh-oh can express dismay but not worry. The interjection uh-oh! is what linguists call a discourse marker, a small utterance that, in this case, changes what we expect to hear. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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