Quiz Guy John Chaneski dons his deerstalker cap and offers a cryptic puzzle in which the combination of two clued words results in a single word. Take, for example, this clue: “A word meaning ‘distant,’ and the end of him is where you’ll find...
A handy Armenian expression literally translates as “Don’t iron my head!” It’s used as a way of saying, “Stop pestering me with the same thing over and over.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Stop Ironing My Head” If...
How do you pronounce Henry David Thoreau’s last name? It’s not “thur-ROH” but “THUR-roh,” as if pronounced like the word thorough, with the accent on the first syllable. The author of Walden (Bookshop|Amazon) had a French grandfather who was...
Why do speakers of the same language have different accents? A lively new book called Why We Talk Funny offers a linguist’s look at how and why accents develop. And: If you’ve “stood up” at a wedding, were you supporting the marriage or objecting to...
Claire from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, shares a phrase dear to her late friend. Her friend was known for saying since Christ left Philadelphia, meaning “a very long time ago.” This expression fits a well-worn pattern of comic hyperbole using...
Mackenzie from Green Bay, Wisconsin, learned the word agita from a friend in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She uses it to refer to “that heavy, sluggish feeling one gets after eating too much,” the feeling some call the meat sweats. The word agita comes...