Liam in San Francisco, California, emailed to share a passage from Donna Tartt’s novel, The Secret History (Bookshop|Amazon). It’s a sensuous description of the sights, sounds, and smells of autumn in Vermont. This is part of a complete episode...
Nathan from San Antonio, Texas, reports that his parents used to use the word crisp to mean “tired” or “cranky.” This usage seems to have originated on U.S, college campuses in the 1970s. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Crisp to...
In a passage from How to Think Like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education, Scott Newstok, a professor at Rhodes College, offers an apt description of class letting out and students wandering about while focused on their phones. This is...
Do you say something happened on accident or by accident? Is text-messaging destroying our kids’ writing ability? Where do horseradish, zarf, and ignoramus come from?
A Princeton University student wonders if his school can lay claim to being the first to apply the Latin word campus to the grounds of an institution of higher learning. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of Campus” Hello...
minidorm n.— «Now financial planners and accountants are recommending a wrinkle on the same idea—the minidorm. To use this tactic, says James Avedisian, a tax partner with accountants Coopers & Lybrand, “buy a house on campus for several kids to...