A high-school teacher in Los Angeles, California, says many of his teaching colleagues have different opinions about how to handle profanity among teenagers. The simplest solution is to prohibit all taboo language in the classroom, but acknowledge...
Heather from Sacramento, California, wonders about the phrase loaded for bear: Her husband thinks it describes someone who is thoroughly prepared and eager to do something, but her mother-in-law thinks it specifically describes someone belligerent...
Chris from San Diego, California, asks about climbers’ chossy, meaning rock so crumbly or unsafe that it may break loose under a handhold, foothold, or piece of protective gear. A bad formation may be called a choss pile, and choss up means to wreck...
After hearing our discussion about pangrams, those sentences that contain every letter of the alphabet at least once, a middle-school teacher in Bishop, California, assigned her students to write some. They’re great! This is part of a complete...
A middle-schooler from Bishop, California, pens a clever pangram about watching Netflix while under the weather. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Netflix Pangram” Here’s another pan Graham from Home Street Middle...
The California superbloom included Nemophila maculata, a white blossom with a dab of purple at the end of each of five petals. It’s also called fivespot. The maculata in the scientific name derives from Latin macula, meaning...

