It’s the ultimate road trip: A father and son retrace the journey of Odysseus and find a way to navigate their relationship. Plus, the story behind the phrase a flash in the pan: It has nothing to do with cooking or gold mining. Also, what’s a...
Jimmy from Shenandoah County, Virginia, says whenever a moth flew into the room, his mother would yell “Cattle bat!” This term is almost certainly a variation of candle bat, a folk term for moths found in various English dialects. In Caribbean...
Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. Also, warm memories of how a childhood...
Sandy from Richmond, Virginia, says her mother would fondly recall the bacon bats she participated in while a student at Smith College. A bacon bat was a festive outdoor picnic that featured bacon and other savory treats cooked over an open fire...
In the 17th century, the verb to bate and the likely related verb, to bat, were used in falconry to mean “to flap wildly.” By the 19th century, to bat was also part of the phrase to bat one’s eyelashes. This is part of a complete...
Noctivagant people are those who wander the night, and vespertilian folks have bat-like qualities. Add these to “shirtless” as poignant ways to describe a vampire. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Noctivagant...