![]() Trevor in Austin, Texas, notes that when his young son was talking about drawing a cat, but erasing part of it, the boy used the term deleting rather than erasing. For example, what Biblical name is suggested by the clue “A barrier for first man”? Delete vs. It’s another cryptic crossword from Quiz Guy John Chaneski! The clues involve wordplay, and if the clue includes a definite article, it’s part of the answer. We talked about pangrams in an earlier episode, which prompted a delicious one from Laura in Colt’s Neck, New Jersey: I quickly mixed up a dozen jelly donuts for the big variety show. In French back slang, the word femme for “woman” becomes meuf. Often used among the criminal underclass, rhyming slang is intended to be difficult for outsiders to understand. Another bit of rhyming slang for “trouble” is Barney, short for Barney Rubble. In addition to trouble and strife for “wife,” there’s also joy of my life, or simply joy. It’s a bit of Cockney rhyming slang that translates as “There I was on the phone, with my friend Charlie, when my wife took a tumble on the stairs, and I couldn’t believe it.” Such slang has been around since the mid-19th century, and has spawned further slang terms: apples can mean “stairs,” apple-dancing means “to steal from multi-story buildings.” By extension, the word fruit can mean “stairs,” as can oranges and lemons. Steven in Cavendish, Vermont, remembers this saying from his Cockney grandfather: There I was on the dog and bone, with me mate Charlie, when my trouble and strife took a tumble on the apples and pears, and I couldn’t Adam and Eve it. Unkemptĭo you describe someone with a sloppy appearance as being unkempt or unkept? A garden that’s been neglected might be described as unkept, but when it comes to personal appearance, someone who’s disheveled is far more commonly described as unkempt, a word that derives from the past participle of Middle English kemben, meaning “to comb.” Disheveled is related to the French word for “hair,” cheveaux, and originally referred to someone with tousled hair or who is lacking hair entirely. Responding to our conversation about a word to denote the exact halfway point between deep depression and euphoria, a listener in Libreville, Gabon, suggests placid. ![]()
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