Brown As a Berry - 28 April 2014

<p>It used to be that you called any mixed-breed dog a mutt. But at today's dog parks, you're just as likely to run into schnugs, bassadors, and dalmadoodles. Also, if someone has a suntan, you might say he's brown as a berry. But then, when's the last time you saw a berry that was brown? The story behind this phrase goes all the way back to Chaucer. And do you want your doctor practicing preventive medicine -- or preventative? Plus, at bay, buy the farm, hand-running, all intents and purposes vs. all intensive purposes, silly Bible jokes, and hilariously useless lines from foreign language phrasebooks.<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Don't call these dogs mutts: they're bassadors, schnugs and dalmadoodles.<br /><br />Keeping something at bay comes from the baying sound that hunting dogs make when they've got their prey in a standoff. <br /><br />Brown as a berry goes back to Chaucer and the 1300's, when brown was the new dark purple.<br /><br />For all intents and purposes, the phrase all intensive purposes is just plain wrong. It's an example of what linguists call an eggcorn.<br /><br />When aviators speak of George flying the plane, they mean it's on autopilot.<br /><br />Our Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game that's all about the letter O.<br /><br />Gawpy is an old term for "foolish," and refers to the image of a person gaping stupidly.<br /><br />The term preventive is much more common than preventative, particularly in American English, but it's just a matter of preference. No need to get argumentative about it.<br /><br />One folksy way to take leave after a visit is to say, It's time to put the chairs in the wagon.<br /><br />If the word consecutively doesn't feel exciting enough, there's always hand-running.<br /><br />God is a baseball fan, according to one of our listeners. It's right there in Genesis, where it talks about what happened in the big inning.<br /><br />My postillion has been struck by lightning is one of many lines found in foreign language phrase books that have no real purpose. M