I just heard this for the first time as well, and I was struck by the possibility that this could have been one of those silly songs that parents sing...

I know this show is over a year old, but it was just rebroadcast, so it's new for me. My great Aunt also taught me this poem, but without any nixies ...

Recently I got an e-mail from a friend on vacation titled "Announcement!" and the message simply read, "The Chinese people do not understand Spanish, ...

There is a single open quotation mark instead of an apostrophe in " 'Hold ‘er Newt! She’s headed for the barn!' " Word curls up the apostrophes th...

Another use of the word dope is in semiconductors, where one dopes the material in order to make it more or less conductive.

This falls in with the practice of retail businesses now referring to their customers as "guests" (which brings to mind Ben Franklin's dictum about gu...

I limit my 2 cents worth of comments to public libraries. Because public libraries are tax supported and for the benefit of all community residents, I...

Glenn, that's a marvelous rewrite. Thank you. "Sorrowfully" is a wonderful choice.

Two (very late) comments on this show: (1) More an anecdote than anything, but if you get up into a plane and grab the controls, you can get a rea...

A few words on this show are still fairly used in New Zealand. Skedaddle is often used to herd children out of the way. e.g. "You lot, skedaddle ou...

denier n. - A person defined by their opposition to a scientific view as in climate denier or vaccine denier. Repug n. - a term used by liberals to...

Re. "Share-out" As a Dallasite, I have to say that "share-out" is corporate jargon which has been adopted by the Dallas Independent School District...

A friend of mine just asked if I'd ever heard the expression, "Will the rain hurt the rhubarb?" With the answer, invariably, "Not if it's in the can."...

> Is there a word for a word that doesn't fit its own definition? Yes: heterological (see Grelling's Paradox). It's sometimes written heterologo...

Wow. That's spectacular! Might have to use it on the air sometime. Thanks, Ron! 🙂