Author: Anna Green

The United States was once a country of many dialects, but the spread of broadcasting media over the last century has taken a toll on regional speech: As radio hosts and TV newscasters started talking to the nation, the nation started to mimic them, abandoning local accents and dialects for a more standardized mode of speech. But now, one podcasting network is trying to help bring back America’s disappearing regional slang.

The Atlantic reports that Acast podcasting network has teamed up with the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) to revive 50 of the most endangered local words and phrases from across the United States. Acast is providing its podcasters—which include BuzzFeed, Ikea, and Financial Times—with a list of near-forgotten regional slang compiled by DARE, and encouraging them to incorporate slang terms into their podcasts. The idea is to help preserve endangered slang, and to get people interested in America’s rich linguistic heritage.

Acast Stories USA founder Karl Rosander tells The Guardian he hopes Acast’s popular podcasts can help combat the linguistic homogeneity of the airwaves. “This popularity should help bring these endangered words back into public discourse, with our podcast hosts using, pronouncing correctly and contextualising the DARE words and phrases in an organic and replicable way,” he explains. “As they say in New England, ‘I vum’ that this project should help restore these words and phrases to their former glory.”

Check out Acast and DARE’s list of endangered slang below:

Barn burner: a wooden match that can be struck on any surface. Chiefly Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Maryland

Bat hide: a dollar bill. Chiefly Southwest

Be on one’s beanwater: to be in high spirits, feel frisky. Chiefly New England

Bonnyclabber: thick, sour milk. Chiefly North Atlantic

Counterpin: a bedspread. Chiefly South, South Midland

Croker sack: a burlap bag. Chiefly Gulf States, South Atlantic

Cuddy: a small room, closet, or cupboard.

Cup towel: a dish towel. Chiefly Texas, Inland South

Daddock: rotten wood, a rotten log. Chiefly New England

Dish wiper: a dish towel. Chiefly New England

Dozy of wood: decaying. Chiefly Northeast, especially Maine

Dropped egg: a poached egg. Chiefly New England

Ear screw: an earring. Chiefly Gulf States, Lower Mississippi Valley

Emptins: homemade yeast used as starter. Chiefly New England, Upstate New York

Farmer match: a wooden match than can be struck on any surface. Chiefly Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, New York, West Virginia

Fleech: to coax, wheedle, flatter. South Atlantic

Fogo: An offensive smell. Chiefly New England

Frog strangler: a heavy rain. Chiefly South, South Midland

Goose drownder: a heavy rain. Chiefly Midland

I vum: I swear, I declare. Chiefly New England

Larbo: a type of candy made of maple syrup on snow. New Hampshire

Last button on Gabe’s coat: the last bit of food. Chiefly South, South Midland

Leader: a downspout or roof gutter. Chiefly New York, New Jersey

Nasty-neat: overly tidy. Scattered, but especially Northeast

Parrot-toed: pigeon-toed. Chiefly Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic

Pin-toed: pigeon-toed. Especially Delaware, Maryland, Virginia

Popskull: cheap or illegal whiskey. Chiefly Southern Appalachians

Pot cheese: cottage cheese. Chiefly New York, New Jersey, northern Pennsylvania, Connecticut

Racket store: a variety store. Especially Texas

Sewing needle: a dragonfly. Especially Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Massachusetts [Folk lore says that it would sew up one’s eyes and mouth (or fingers and toes) if one fell asleep outside.]

Shat: a pine needle. Chiefly Delaware, Maryland, Virginia

Shivering owl: a screech owl. Chiefly South Atlantic, Gulf States [Its cry is said to portend a death in the family or other ill omen.]

Skillpot: a turtle. Chiefly District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia

Sonsy: cute, charming, lively. Scattered

Spill: a pine needle. Chiefly Maine

Spin street yarn: to gossip. Especially New England

Spouty: of ground: soggy, spongy. Scattered

Suppawn: corn meal mush. Chiefly New York

Supple-sawney: a homemade jointed doll that can be made to “dance.” Scattered

Tacker: a child, especially a little boy. Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania

Tag: a pine needle. Chiefly Virginia

To bag school: to play hooky. Chiefly Pennsylvania, New Jersey

Tow sack: a burlap bag. Chiefly South, South Midland, Texas, Oklahoma

Trash mover: a heavy rain. Chiefly Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic, Lower Mississippi Valley

Tumbleset: a somersault. Chiefly Southeast, Gulf States; also Northeast

Wamus: a men’s work jacket. Chiefly North Central, Pennsylvania

Whistle pig: a groundhog (also known as woodchuck). Chiefly Appalachians

Winkle-hawk: a three-cornered tear in cloth. Chiefly Hudson Valley, New York

Work brittle: eager to work. Chiefly Midland, especially Indiana

Zephyr: a light scarf. Scattered

[h/t The Atlantic]

At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, astronauts learn to walk in space by diving into a giant pool of water. The focal point of NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL), the massive indoor pool is equipped with a full scale replica of the International Space Station, and is designed to re-create the weightlessness of outer space.

In the short, 360 degree video above, astronauts-in-training explore the cavernous underwater space station with the help of support staff in scuba gear. In their bulky space suits, they must learn not only to walk in zero gravity, but to master repairs on the space station. The video explains that every astronaut must go through rigorous and lengthy underwater training before launching into space: “By the time our astronauts perform a real space walk,” the narrator explains, “they will have spent more than 100 hours practicing inside the NBL.”

[h/t Engadget]

Banner Image Credit: NASA, YouTube

If you often find yourself compulsively clicking your pen, jangling your keys, or drumming your fingers on your desk, Antsy Labs may have the perfect gadget for you. The company, founded by brothers Matthew and Mark McLachlan, has created a handy little device they call the Fidget Cube, designed to keep fidgety hands occupied.

The Fidget Cube, which can be pre-ordered on Kickstarter, features something different to fidget with on each side: There are buttons to press, switches to flip, and joysticks to push. While some buttons mimic the satisfying clicking noise your favorite pen makes, others are silent—making them perfect for quiet classes or meetings. The McLachlan brothers explain that the Fidget Cube isn’t a procrastination tool—rather, it’s designed to help fidgety folks focus.

“We are passionate about the idea that fidgeting is a process that, with the right tools and outlet, can have positive and real-life applications,” they explain. “We believe that Fidget Cube provides a tangible way to capture your floating attention, regardless of whether you fidget consciously or subconsciously.”

[h/t Boing Boing]

There’s something fishy about the seafood business. According to a recent report by the ocean conservation group Oceana, seafood suppliers are pulling a bait and switch on consumers, mislabeling a full 20 percent of fish globally. That means, whether you’re dining out or purchasing fish at your local grocery store, there’s a good chance you’re not eating the fish you think you are.

The New York Times explains that the report, which looked at 200 studies from 55 countries and a total of 25,000 seafood samples, found instances of fish fraud all around the world. In some cases, the vast majority of the fish tested were mislabeled: In Brazil, for instance, 80 percent of the “catfish” tested were not, in fact, catfish, while in Italy 82 percent of the perch, groupers, and swordfish tested were mislabeled. Other major phony fish included red snapper (in South Florida, for instance, 90 percent were mislabeled) and wild salmon (in New York City, 75 percent of “wild salmon” were actually cheaper farm-raised salmon).

For the most part, the report explains, seafood suppliers simply swap expensive fish for cheaper ones. But in some cases, suppliers are selling fish known for dangerously high mercury levels or fish on the endangered species list: In one particularly egregious case, California sushi chefs were even discovered serving endangered whale meat as tuna. The report also notes that it can be hard to tell exactly where fraud is occurring; instances of mislabeling were discovered on every rung of the supply chain from wholesalers and importers to retailers.

“We kept thinking we’d find a success story, a place where seafood wouldn’t be mislabeled,” Oceana senior campaign director Beth Lowell told The New York Times. “Every single study that we reviewed except for one found seafood fraud.”

Check out the interactive map below to see the fish fraud for yourself:

[h/t New York Times]

In August, we reported that New York City was trying to reclaim its title as the oyster capital of the world by building a massive oyster bed in Jamaica Bay. Now, in collaboration with the Billion Oyster Project, the city is using 5000 old toilets to create a cozy—if slightly gross—home for its new mollusk families.

The toilets were donated by public schools around the city, as part of a collaboration between the Department of Education and Department of Environmental Protection. In return for their inefficient old toilets, public schools received new, water-saving models.

In a statement, the Mayor’s Office explained that the 5000 toilets, smashed into small porcelain chunks, will give free-floating oyster larvae something to latch onto as they grow. While the oyster bed consists of an initial 50,000 oysters, the city hopes the mollusks will successfully spawn and attach either to the shells of other oysters or bits of porcelain.

The oyster bed will do more than bring delicious shellfish back to the city, The Washington Post reports. “This oyster bed will serve multiple purposes—protecting our wetlands from erosion, naturally filtering our water, and providing a home for our sea dwellers are just a few,” Mayor Bill de Blasio explained. “More broadly, this oyster bed is a small but necessary step in our broader OneNYC commitment to create a more sustainable and more resilient City.”

[h/t The Washington Post]

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Richmond Shepard has worked in the entertainment industry for five decades. He’s studied mime with Marcel Marceau, appeared in commercials and TV shows, and traveled the world performing solo and with mime troupes. And now, at 87, he’s the world’s oldest mime.

In the short New Yorker video above, Shepard talks about the ways being a mime affected his life—both on and off stage. Shepard, who lives in New York City, explains that being a mime taught him to appreciate the little, non-verbal interactions you share with people on the street, in an elevator, or on the train: “A lot of communication can happen in silence,” he explains, “but you have to listen.”

Banner Image Credit: NewYorker, Vimeo

Back in 2013, a little bakery called Dominique Ansel—named after its now famous pastry chef—had normally impatient New Yorkers lining up for hours just to taste a sweet and flaky hybrid pastry called the “Cronut.” Now, that famous doughnut and croissant crossover is making its way across the pond: Konbini reports that the Cronut—and all the delicious chaos that comes with it—is coming to London.

Dominique Ansel, which already has locations in New York and Tokyo, will open its new London shop on September 30. In addition to Cronuts, the bakery will sell its famous frozen s’mores (chocolate and ice cream inside a frozen marshmallow), Waffogatos (espresso with vanilla ice cream and bits of waffle), and cookie shots (a shot glass-shaped cookie filled with milk). Ansel also plans to create a series of brand new pastries just for Londoners, including a welsh rarebit croissant and a banoffee pie made in a paella pan.

Ansel told The Telegraph he doesn’t want to rest on his laurels, and hopes his Dominique Ansel Bakeries will be famous for pushing the envelope with wild and creative pastries, not just the Cronut. “Our philosophy is not taking it too seriously: not to be afraid of criticism, to test and to try,” he said. “… We are not just feeding stomachs, we are feeding hearts and souls.”

[h/t Konbini]

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Drivers in India will no longer have to worry about carrying their ID with them—as long as they have a smartphone. Mashable reports that India’s officials just announced that it will now accept both digital and physical copies of driver’s licenses and registrations.

The announcement is part of the government’s broader initiative to go digital. Using a secure cloud storage app called DigiLocker, Indian citizens can upload their driver’s license and registration, as well as other important documents like college diplomas and voter ID cards. The government is providing all citizens with up to one GB of free storage.

While several countries have begun experimenting with digitized identification documents, India may be the first to allow all of its citizens the option to use digital driver’s licenses. The UK and New South Wales have both announced plans to accept digital driver’s licenses by 2018, while the United States has begun pilot tests of digital licenses in a few regions. India, meanwhile, is fully embracing the digital license, and in the process, making life just a little easier for anyone who forgets their wallet at home.

[h/t Mashable]

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