Martha Barnette gets a call from Martha Barnett, her Canadian tocaya who’s missing an “e” at the end of her last name. On the Global News website, you can see that the name Martha, perhaps now an anomaly in Canada, peaked in popularity around the...
Most high schoolers hear the bell ring, and they know it’s time for next period. But some students simply refer to each class as first bell, second bell, and so on. What did you call each class period? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...
To fill your boots means “to go after something with gusto.” Similarly, the tableside injunction Fill your boots! is an invitation to chow down. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “”Fill Your Boots”” I saw a lovely remembrance of...
When someone says maybe, are they suggesting an option, or merely being polite? A caller from Anna, Texas, met a Canadian who used the word maybe to soften his imperatives. The same effect is often achieved with conditional phrases: “Would you mind...
A caller from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, says that cops in Canada will often say to contact them on their shoe phones. The shoe phone comes from Maxwell Smart, the hapless hero of the 1960s sitcom Get Smart, who kept a phone on the sole of his shoe...
Elbow grease isn’t a product you can buy at the hardware store. If a task demands elbow grease, that just means whatever you’re doing requires hard work that might result in sweat. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Elbow Grease”...