The Silver Rush Mysteries

Shortly after referring to the  Dictionary of the American West   last week, I was shocked and saddened to read that the dictionary's au...

 In westerns of old, a showdown is often what follows a remark such as "Them's fightin' words, pardner." I'm guessing...

 A dear friend* suggested I tackle the word hobo for Slang-o-rama. Sounded good to me! The first thing I did was to search and see if I...

When the chips are down.... .... the situation (according to Christine Ammer's The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms) is urgent or...

You bet ! popped out of my mouth in enthusiastic agreement to something-or-other a few days ago. That set me to wondering when the phrase fi...

Well now, folks, just hang onto those reins and hold your horses . That phrase sounds like something straight out of old Western movies, ...

Please welcome back prolific guest author Michael A. Black. Michael is the author of 34 books and over 100 short stories and articles. A f...

By special request from reader Liz (and yes, I take requests) I hearby designate the slang-o-rama term of the week to be absquatulate . ...

Sometimes a little cursing (or a lot) is in order, and the usual four-letter words (with an occasional five- or seven-letter word) just don...