Thanks so much for recalling that information from worldwidewords (a valuable site). I'd seen that posting some time ago, and found it quite definitive. Just was curious to see if there was another perspective out there on an obscure phrase.

Indeed! How prescient!

Á propos to nothing yet discussed: where did the phrase "grass widow" originate? I've heard a couple of fairly logical theories over the years. Thanks.

Garden slugs are rather like Gertrude Stein's Oakland: there's no There there. Mostly lotsa slime and goosh. However, one slug mating procedure I just happened to observe was rather lyrical, and I wrote a poem about it with a prosaic title, Slug Love. Revisiting confabulate, I realized that the seco...

Indeed I am (not TOO obvious, eh?), along with harboring a fondness for most critters, except perhaps scorpions and garden slugs. Although I do find them quite interesting. I just prefer to not share proximity with them. Thanks for asking, and for the welcome.

As a child growing up in the Intermountain Western part of the US, I often heard the word "confab" (with emphasis on the first syllable) used in extended family casual conversation. It meant to have a discussion or talk about something. I always just assumed that it was a colloquialism unt...