First episode of the year! The main 3 are back……… Join Zodwriter, Tha Jackal, and Johnny Alpha as they talk all things geek! via Pocket http://ift.tt/2l9GSlu
Linguistic freezes, also known as binomials or irreversible pairs, are words that tend to appear in a certain order, such as now and then, black and white, or spaghetti and meatballs. http://waywordradio.org via Pocket http://ift.tt/2l4OkPh
A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So how did it come to be a pejorative term for those of a particular political persuasion? http://waywordradio.org via Pocket http://ift.tt/2kAkTkm
A listener in Carmel, New York, remembers his father’s phrase knuckle down screw boney tight, a challenge called out to someone particularly adept at playing marbles. The game of marbles, once wildly popular in the United States, is a rich source of slang, including the phrase playing for keeps. via Pocket http://ift.tt/2km0zm9
A man in Red Lodge, Montana, says he and his wife sometimes accuse each other of being a sneaky pete. It’s an affectionate expression they use if, say, one of them played a practical joke on the other. via Pocket http://ift.tt/2kAoI9a
An Omaha, Nebraska man wonders about starting a sentence with the word anymore, meaning “nowadays.” Linguists refer to this usage as positive anymore, which is common in much of the Midwest, and stems from Scots-Irish syntax. http://waywordradio.org via Pocket http://ift.tt/2l91iuG
Which is it: rabble rouser or rebel rouser? It’s rabble rouser, rabble meaning “a confused collection of things” or “a motley crowd.” Rubble rouser is another variant listed in The Eggcorn Database. http://waywordradio.org via Pocket http://ift.tt/2l4HYPW
A listener in Council Bluffs, Iowa, says his grandmother, born in 1899, used to say I’m feeling punk, meaning “I’m feeling ill.” The term derives from an older sense of punk meaning “rotted wood.” http://waywordradio. via Pocket http://ift.tt/2l4ReU4
To give free rein, meaning “to allow more leeway,” derives from the idea of loosening one’s grip on the reins of a horse. Some people mistakenly understand the term as free reign. http://waywordradio.org via Pocket http://ift.tt/2lFNuWr
Did you hear about the explosion in the French cheese factory? (If you don’t like puns, brace yourself.)http://waywordradio.org via Pocket http://ift.tt/2kIncEN
A woman in Hudson, New York, says her boyfriend, who grew up on Long Island, uses the expression call out sick, meaning “to phone an employer to say you’re not coming to work because you’re ill.” But she uses the phrase call in sick to mean the very same thing. via Pocket http://ift.tt/2kXEegg
The Mighty is a website with resources for those facing disability, disease, and mental illness. In an essay there, Kyle Freeman, who lost her brother to suicide, argues that the term commit suicide is a source of unnecessary pain and stigma for the survivors. via Pocket http://ift.tt/2khBihL
In English, we sometimes liken feeling “out of place” to being a fish out of water. The corresponding phrase in Spanish is to say you feel como un pulpo en el garaje, or like an octopus in a garage. http://waywordradio.org via Pocket http://ift.tt/2kApgfn
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a quiz inspired by March Madness, taking us through the year with the name of a month followed by an adjective with the suffix -ness attached to form an alliterative noun phrase. via Pocket http://ift.tt/2kAhdz9
MQTA S2 E97…..Rub this in a cemetery for some GOOD luck!!! A little tortoise really loves to make love so much that he had to get a set of Wheels!! Shoes from faith healers in South Africa will cure warts on very intimate parts and Adrian has a really good suggestion…. via Pocket http://ift.tt/2kXFXCx
A monkey wrench has been thrown into our evolution and the experiment of mankind being the caretaker of planet Earth is expiring. via Pocket http://ift.tt/1RvhjFd