What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originating in Asia—the tomatoes came only later! Plus, a new book shows what’s lost when a language dies: when there...
Say you’re introducing someone to a married heterosexual couple, and both members of the couple are physicians. What titles should you use? “This is Dr. and Dr. Jones”? Dr. and Mrs.? What if one holds Ph.D.? What if both hold doctorates? This is...
Does the term a couple mean “two and only two items”? Nope. Plenty of folks use couple to mean “a small but indefinite” quantity, and to insist otherwise is pure peevishness. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “How Many in a Couple?”...
A married couple has invented a lovely word to mean “I sympathize” that doesn’t sound quite so stilted. They simply say, salma. It’s an example of the private language couples develop. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Salma” Hello...
A couple is not necessarily the same as a pair; it can certainly mean more than two, and it’s always dependent on context. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Couple vs. Pair” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Yes, this is Noah...
Netflix divorce n.—Gloss: A decision by a couple to have two Netflix accounts instead of one. «Netflix does not know how many of its accounts are for individuals and how many are for couples. There has been at least one “Netflix divorce,” in which...