A San Diego, California, listener has observed that some advertising slogans that omit the part of speech known as an article, such as Get iPhone 14 Pro or Do what’s best for Baby. The phrasing is intentional. Advertising often relies on a...
Why do southern Californians refer to interstate thoroughfares with the definite article, as in the 405 or the 8? This usage is a result of the history of freeways in Southern California, and is heard in a few other places, including Phoenix...
Susan from Chester County, Pennsylvania, who grew up hearing New York broadcasts, asks why the borough is called The Bronx with a definite article rather than simply Bronx. The name goes back to 17th-century settler Jonas Bronck, whose name survived...
Why do news releases from agencies such as the FBI, the CIA, the EPA, and the IRS drop the initial the before these initialisms? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Why No “The” Sometimes in Front of CIA, FBI, or IRS...
John says that many of the older patients in his Northeast Tennessee orthopedics clinic will refer to habitual activity as occurring of the morning or of the evening. The vastly more common versions of these phrases in the South and South Midlands...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has an inside-out puzzle that’s clued by a short sequence of letters inside a longer one. For example, what holiday contains the letters KSGI? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Inside Out Word...