Imaginary Friends - 21 July 2025

Alright, alright, alright! How do some catchphrases become part of the larger vernacular—to the point where people don’t always know the original reference? And the island of Ocracoke off the coast of North Carolina has a distinctive dialect all its own. A new book shows how tourism is changing how the locals talk. Plus: Are you binge-watching or stinge-watching? If you’re stinge-watching your favorite TV series, you’re savoring it over a long period of time. Also, smearcase, names for imaginary friends, a disem-voweled puzzle, steen o’clock, the rocky origin of cloud, dreepy, nicknames for days of the week, bag raising, and how to pronounce the word mobile when it refers to that toy that hangs above a crib.

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