Language Matters: No shortage of Kiwis steeped in words stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“Someone ding-dong ditched!” she called out as she closed the door. Turns out the doorbell chime was the washer telling us a load was done, but the description used by my stepdaughter intrigued me. “Ding-dong ditch” is a phrase I had heard before, about a decade ago when my daughter and son were that age. But even then, that phrase caught me off-guard because, when I grew up, we often rang a bell or knocked on a door and ran away but we called it “nicky-nicky nine door.” Those were the halcyon days of the 1970s and 1980s in the Fraser Valley and I had never heard “ding-dong ditch” until moving to Kamloops in 2005.
Post Connection to That Tiger-on-the-Loose Story
You may have heard about the tiger that was on the loose in Houston, Texas. The nine-month-old named India was finally found last week, and it was announced that she would be going to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, Texas, where she will have a half acre of land all to herself.
But it was the name of the ranch that made me raise an eyebrow. Cleveland Amory? The Cleveland Amory who used to write a column for
TV Guide that I read religiously? Yup, the same Cleveland Amory. In addition to writing that column plus work for
Katherine Barber obituary thetimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thetimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Word Lady shared her passion for Canadian English theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.