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 …

When The Chips Were Down, I Came Through

by Kevin Burton    Briefly, I stuck to my guns, relied on my own resources, ever so briefly. And I can’t tell you why.    This was misguided, but I rebounded quickly and it all worked out.    It was just after 8 p.m. and my wife Jeannette approached, walking with purpose into the mancave …

Hot Geographical News About Jalapeños

by Kevin Burton    I am a proud, practicing pepperhead. Some like it hot, I like it hotter.    I go to a restaurant and look for that little flame icon next to the entrées, to know which ones might contain a little heat. That search though is sometimes unrewarded.    I’ve (mostly) stopped ordering …

A Fearful List Of Ten Unusual Phobias

by Dictionary Scoop     The word “phobia” does not merely mean “fear of” as some believe. There is more to it.    A phobia is an irrational fear, “an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation,” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary.    Here are ten uncommon fears and …

Have An Oreo Tomorrow, But Call Your Dentist

by Kevin Burton     You will perhaps see a contradiction here, but show some moderation, show some discipline. Open your mind as you open your mouth.     I’m letting you know a day ahead of time, I’ve got your back.    Tomorrow is National Oreo Cookie Day. I have written about Oreos before (“The 110th …