Linda from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, gives directions to her remote home by telling people to turn left after the whoopsy-daisy, her term for a sudden dip in the road. There are quite a few colloquial expressions for such abrupt depression or bump in the pavement, including thank-you-ma’am, yes-ma’am, and how-do-you-do, all suggesting the nodding motion of a passenger’s head when going over it. Other terms are dippity-do, dipsy-do, belly-tickler, duck-and-dip, and whoop-de-doo. In the Ozarks, these spots are sometimes called kiss-me-quicks and love holes because of the opportunity they afford for a quick smooch. This is part of a complete episode.
When you’re talking about the location of an inanimate object, is it okay to say that it lives there, as in The peanut butter lives in that cabinet or The flashlight lives on that shelf? Strictly speaking, of course, that object isn’t...
Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...
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