Culture Shlock
Words Between Friends
Episode 1: Level Best, Piss-Poor, Tenterhooks and Much More!
1×
0:00
-46:36

Episode 1: Level Best, Piss-Poor, Tenterhooks and Much More!

Malcolm Fleschner
Nov 11, 2021
Share

Malcolm and Kurt examine and argue about the surprising provenance of a range of terms including "level best," "on tenterhooks," and "piss-poor" while also discussing pressing questions like:

  • Why do we say "hundreds," "thousands" and "millions" but we don't say "tens?"

  • If you know the correct pronunciation of a widely mispronounced word, which pronunciation do you use?

And plenty more, all delivered with our signature joie de vivre, wit and savoir faire!

0 Comments
Culture Shlock
Words Between Friends
Malcolm Fleschner's award-winning (well, award-*won* anyway) humor column
Listen on
Substack App
RSS Feed
Appears in episode
Malcolm Fleschner
Recent Episodes
Episode 9 (Part Two): “Luck of the Irish,” “86,” “Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire” and more!
 • Malcolm Fleschner
Episode 9 (Part One): “At Sixes and Sevens,” “Skin of One’s Teeth,” “Baker’s Dozen” and more!
 • Malcolm Fleschner
Episode 8: “Clean Your Clock,” “Jury-Rigged,” “To Whale On,” “Makeshift,” “Slapdash,” “Freebird!” and more!
 • Malcolm Fleschner
Episode 7: “Slush Fund,” “Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread,” “Flat Out Like a Lizard Drinking,” “Footloose,” “Molson Muscle” and more!
 • Malcolm Fleschner
Episode 6: “Makin’ Whoopie,” “Copycat,” “Shag,” “Kit ’n’ Kaboodle,” “Pussyfoot” and the granddaddy of them all, “F*ck”
 • Malcolm Fleschner
Episode 5: Origins of football terms "touchdown," "sack" and "Super Bowl"; surprising original meanings of "nice," "broad" and "slut"
 • Malcolm Fleschner
Episode 4: Kick the Bucket, Fly Off the Handle, Dead as a Doornail, Shuffle off this Mortal Coil & Put Up Your Dukes
 • Malcolm Fleschner
Episode 3: Balls to the Wall, Mad as a Hatter, Bruce Springsteen’s “Speedball,” Bury the Hatchet, "I'm Your Huckleberry" and Butter You Up
 • Malcolm Fleschner