Danielle from Wells, Vermont, wonders if there’s a difference between a possum and an opossum. Scientifically speaking, they’re two different animals. The word opossum comes from a similar-sounding Algonquian term that translates as “the white animal.” It’s easy to leave off that initial, unstressed O in opossum, which often happened quite early in the word’s borrowing into English. So either opossum or possum is correct for the North American animal, although possum is probably more widespread. Western explorers later brought the term possum to Australia, and applied it to a different marsupial there. This is part of a complete episode.
More from this show
When you’re talking about the location of an inanimate object, is it okay to say that it lives there, as in The peanut butter lives in that cabinet or The flashlight lives on that shelf? Strictly speaking, of course, that object isn’t...
Sean in Oneonta, New York, says that when he was growing up in New Jersey, his family would pile in the car and set off on a surprise adventure, whether a short distance or long, and the kids would be told only that they were going on Buxtehude...