An ailurophile from Dallas, Texas, wrote us to say her cat has a hobby of poking around in the closet and finding hidden nooks to nap in, or as she calls it, closeteering. That’s also a great term for generally digging around in the closet for stuff...
Do the verb phrases share out and explain out have a special, nuanced meaning in the worlds of business and education? Or are they jargon to be avoided? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Business and Educational Jargon” Hello, you...
Judy Schwartz from Dallas, Texas, sent us the best sentence she read all day. It’s from William Zinsser’s On Writing Well: “Clutter is the disease of American writing.” Have a sentence that stopped you in your tracks? Send it our way. This is part...
If something’s larrupin’ good, it’s spankin’ good or thumpin’ good. It comes from the word larrup, a verb meaning “to beat or thrash.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Larrupin'” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hello. Hi, who’s...
Do you have a favorite letter? The sound or typeface varieties of a letter can really catch us. For more about the visual and emotional properties of various letters, check out Simon Garfield’s book about fonts, Just My Type. Grant also recommends...
A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get “on the stick.” The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is “on the ball.” Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: “on the...
