Sarah in San Antonio, Texas, says that when she goes to a restaurant and orders iced tea, the server usually asks, “Sweet or unsweet?” That doesn’t sound right to her. How do you unsweeten tea? Doesn’t the un- imply a...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle involves words that share a common lexical bond. For example, what one word unites the terms apple, chill, bird, bang, and gulp? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Common Bond Word...
Nadine in San Antonio, Texas, disagrees with her boyfriend, who insists that the word surprise suggests something inherently good, so it’s impossible to call something a bad surprise. A quick look at data from the Brigham Young University corpora of...
Joanna from Dallas, Texas, says English is not her first language, and she’s trying to understand the nuances of the words event and eventful. She wonders if the word eventful carries a less positive connotation than the word event. It depends...
Writing advice from Mark Twain, who was not a fan of adjectives. In The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson, he says, “As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out.” He also wrote a letter with clever, useful advice that still holds true for the...
Is it cheating to say you’ve read a book if you only listened to it on tape? Over the centuries, the way we think about reading has changed a lot. There was a time, for example, when reading silently was considered strange. Plus, what do you...