How do translators of literature decide which words to use? B.J. Epstein, a Chicago native now living in the UK, is a translator with an excellent blog on the subject called Brave New Words. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
How do you pronounce Missouri? The late Donald Lance, a former professor from the University of Missouri at Columbia, compiled the exhaustive research that became The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English, which traces...
If you master a second language by the age of ten, native speakers won’t recognize that it’s not your first. Even so, things like idioms or prepositions can often trip up even the most skilled second-language speakers, if their second...
An older woman with a knack for finding older men to date? That’s what you call someone with excellent graydar. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Graydar” Martha, how would you describe an older woman who has a...
A Southern California woman says she was caught up short when she enthused, “It’s the bomb,” and a 12-year-old had no idea what she was saying. Does our slang need to change as we grow older? Why do we say “the bomb”...
age-doping n.— «Under pressure to address “age-doping,” the IOC asked the International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) on Friday to re-open the Federation’s previous investigation into the matter of the girls’ ages...