Books for sale, books for free, and wisdom passed down through the ages. Libraries aren’t just repositories for books — they’re often a great place to find gently used volumes for sale. Or you can always visit a “little free library” — a...
A dancer in the Broadway production of The Lion King says he and his colleagues are curious about the use of the term “Auntie” (pronounced AHN-tee) to refer to an older woman, regardless of whether she’s a blood relative. Auntie is often used among...
The books we love as children may influence our careers more than we realize. As a child, Martha was fascinated with stories of cracking codes, and Grant loved books with glossaries–not that far from the kind of work they do today. A caller from...
We spoke on a recent show about the joking consolation parents offer to a crying child, “It’ll be better before you’re married.” A podcast listener in Siberia emailed to say that in Russian, a similar saying translates to, “It has enough time to...
Finns say their word sisu meaning “guts” or “fortitude” characterizes their national identity. Does your culture have such a word, like the Portuguese term saudade, perhaps? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Cultural Terms for...
How do you refer to rubber-soled athletic shoes? Are they sneakers or tennis shoes? Something else, like trainers? When canvas shoes with soft rubber soles came into use, they were so quiet compared to wood-soled shoes that one could literally sneak...