This Is Drivel

Tag: language

  • peeved

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    Is there one thing people do practically all the time, a small, insignificant thing that really shouldn’t bother you but, even so, makes you clench your teeth to keep yourself from screaming, “STOP DOING THAT! IT’S WRONG! WHERE’D YOU LEARN TO DO IT THAT WAY?” For me, it’s when people say “reason why,” as in, Read.

  • waddaya call

    Until the 1970s, the American faux spouse was too rare and taboo to even try to track. In 1980, the United States Census Bureau made its first attempt at naming these creatures in order to count them. It really outdid itself lexicographically: ‘person of opposite sex sharing living quarters,’ abbreviated to POSSLQ and pronounced ‘possle Read.

  • fdsafdsafd

    I wanted to do an advanced google search this morning. I was looking for a particular phrase on a particular web site, but the only way I know of to do that is to do a plain old vanilla search from the main google page, then scroll to the bottom, then click on the ‘advanced Read.

  • pesto pasta

    I sure like saying “pesto pasta.” I’ll bet you would, too, if you gave it a try. Go ahead, try it: “Pesto pasta.” See how much fun? Pesto pasta Pesto pasta Pesto pasta Man, I could say that all day long, or until I feel like saying “spackle.” Spackle spackle spackle spackle spackle. Here’s another Read.

  • How to see Milwaukee on just $500 a day – Part 2

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    We went to Milwaukee to see a taping of one of our favorite radio shows, Says You! and then we almost didn’t make it to the show! It was an evening taping but we left Madison in the morning and got to Milwaukee around noon so we could have a wander around town. Then we Read.

  • ullage

    What do you call that empty space at the top of a beer bottle? There’s already a word for it that goes back centuries, but I don’t think I heard anyone use one word consistently for it until the last five or ten years when I started hanging around beer brewers, who usually call it Read.

  • margin

    Oh, hey, look at that, Romney won in the Iowa GOP primary. That was unexpected. Sure didn’t see that coming. What a surprise. I’m astounded. According to The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Romney barely beat Santorum by “the tiniest of margins – eight votes.” In the whacky world of politics it’s entirely possible I’m wrong about this, Read.

  • talk talk

    Hock rots. Puggled nose. Eye gron gree. Up up ter. These are just a few samples of the first words used by our offspring. When the Seanster needed to blow his nose, for instance, he told his mother that his nose was puggled. It was a short jump from plugged so it was easy to Read.

  • Miss Pelling

    I have trouble spelling things in e-mail. Yes, you are correct, wise ass, I have trouble spelling all the time, but in e-mail my very special problem seems to get magnified so disproportionately that I can’t even get past the salutation without making at least five spelling mistakes, and that is indeed special. “Drea M.r Read.

  • foe ODD, HOTCH!

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    Grant Barrett started off this morning’s episode of A Way With Words with a tribute to train conductors and the singsong way they rounded up passengers lingering on the platform by calling out the names of the stops along the way, something like, “Anaheim, Azusa, and Cu-ca-monga!” wrapping it up with the still-familiar, “bo-AAAAHHHd!” Grant Read.

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