Archive2014

Cease and Desist

Cease and desist may seem redundant to the layperson -it’s sort of like saying “stop and stop”— but for lawyers, it’s a leak-proof way to say, stop and don’t ever do this again. This is part of a complete episode.

Two Kinds of Readers

There are two kinds of readers in the world: those who blow past a word they don’t know, and those who drop everything, run to the dictionary, and dig and dig until they figure out what in the world something like pagophilic means. Yes, we...

Buckle Down (episode #1412)

It’s time for book recommendations! Martha’s enjoying an armchair tour of important places in the history of our language, and Grant recommends relaxing with books that make great reading for both children and adults. Plus, are you the...

Venza’s Razor

After our episode that mentioned eponymous laws, we got a call from Darby Venza from Austin, Texas, who came up with this bit of wisdom, otherwise known as Venza’s Razor: Whenever a garden hose or extension cord can catch on something, it will...

Martha’s Tocaya

Martha Barnette gets a call from Martha Barnett, her Canadian tocaya who’s missing an “e” at the end of her last name. On the Global News website, you can see that the name Martha, perhaps now an anomaly in Canada, peaked in...

Le Trombone

The French have a musical term for paperclip. They call it le trombone. This is part of a complete episode.

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