Healthy Phrases For A Healthy Vocabulary

by Dictionary Scoop    Health is an important issue for everyone, and our language is proof of that! English offers us many health-related idioms with very interesting origins.  To discover the meaning and roots of ten of them, read on! 1-An apple a day keeps the doctor away    . You were probably just a child the first time …

Weird Traditions From Around The World

by Dictionary Scoop    Traditions come in all shapes and sizes, from a small family tradition involving a special breakfast treat to an annual activity shared by an entire community.    In that sense, some traditions around the world may seem downright strange to a keen observer. That’s why we’ve decided to highlight some of …

I Get My Mushrooms From A Jar Or A Can

by Kevin Burton    Aren’t you glad you don’t live in the trial-and-error era of food safety?    Time was, nobody knew what was poisonous and what was not. Eat the wrong mushroom and your hunger is satiated forever, but in a most unfortunate way.    I suppose that process was also an early call …

Handle These Dangerous Foods With Care

by Dictionary Scoop    There are a number of foods that, despite their popularity and many health benefits, can put you in danger if undercooked or consumed in excess.    Check out our list of foods that, although commonly eaten, can be surprisingly dangerous. 1-Potatoes    Mashed, fried, or baked, potatoes offer endless possibilities. As …

Regional Speech Patterns Travel With You

by Kevin Burton    One fine morning in a restaurant we don’t often go to, in a small town where you better not speed or they’ll fine you for sure (Derby, Kansas), a waitress referred to my wife and I as “yins.”    That is a contraction of “you ones” and it’s a regionalism from …

Savoring Food Words From Merriam-Webster

by Kevin Burton    After last week’s posts about the Food Network, we set the table once more with words about food from our friends at Merriam-Webster dictionary.    I have heard the chefs on TV drop some of these words, but other words on the list sound more like Roman or Jewish names from …

Another Helping Of Fun From Food Network

by Kevin Burton    Yesterday we rode the wayback machine and looked at one of my earliest Page 7 blog posts, one that made fun of the weird meals they make on Food Network.    We also established that since that time I have developed an appetite for Food Network and have stopped dialing up …

Food Network, Unlikely Road Dogs For Us

by Kevin Burton    My recipe for relaxation on the road has changed, just a bit, in the last couple of years.     Time was, on the road with my wife, I would put a ball game on the hotel TV before the suitcase got unpacked.    Or even opened.    Football, baseball, basketball. I …

Des Moines Isn’t Boring, Really, I Mean It

by Kevin Burton    Did you know there is a Memphis, Missouri?    Fewer than 2,000 people live there. We came perilously close to joining them on vacation two weeks ago.    We had planned to see the big Memphis – the BB King-Jerry Lee Lewis-Johnny Cash Memphis – but a flood warning for the …

Mark Twain And Hannibal To The Rescue

by Kevin Burton    Thirty-six little hours before we were to set sail for Memphis, my wife Jeannette checked the weather.    And we never set sail for Memphis.    The National Weather Service had issued a flood warning covering Memphis at exactly the same time we had planned to hit town. That sort of …