Jonah, a music teacher, in Baltimore, Maryland, shares a funny story about a student who misunderstood his question about the capital of his home state. That left Jonah wondering about the difference between the words capital and capitol. The former...
Rick calls from Rouses Point, New York, to ask about the etymology of the phrase to hang for a sheep as for a lamb, meaning to go for broke or to go all out. The answer involves the old tradition of capital punishment for poaching animals. Given the...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game about funny softball team names. For example, the real-life name of the Whitney Museum’s employee softball team? Why, they’re the Whitney Houstons, of course. This is part of a complete episode...
Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a puzzle called “Categorical Allies.” After he says a word, you must come up with second word that’s in the same category, and begins with the last two letters of the original word. For example, if he says...
Dan in San Diego and friends were stumped after one friend jokingly called himself a woman’s mistress. There isn’t a crisp modern equivalent for an unmarried man involved with a married woman, partly because master and mistress once matched each...
dry powder n.—Gloss: Capital readily available for investment. «Capital available for secondary deals—what the industry calls dry powder—is about $12 to $15 billion, said Small, whose company manages some $4.2 billion of secondaries...
