Here’s a riddle: “Nature requires five, custom gives seven, laziness takes nine, and wickedness eleven.” Think you know the answer? You’ll find it in this week’s episode, in which Grant and Martha discuss this and other...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle Blank the Blank, also called Verb the Noun, asks for familiar three-word expressions in the pattern verb + the + noun. One clue describes someone who refuses to confront trouble, another an accountant committing fraud...
We asked you to tell us about odd regional food names, and boy did you oblige! Martha reads some of your letters about whoopie pies, hot tamales, pretzel salad, coolers, and the frappe vs. milkshake controversy.
If someone calls you dibby, should you be flattered or insulted? You’d know if you were in college a century ago—it’s outdated college slang! Also, we are voluntold to play a word puzzle about Unknown Superheroes!
This week we kick off our 2008 summer minicasts, offered only online, with two downloads. It’s what we’re calling an estival festival. We hear a lot about political candidates these days. But did you ever stop to think about where the...
An ESL teacher puzzles over how to explain to his students the proper pronunciation of the word route. He asks whether the pronunciation “root” has been “routed” by “rowt.” This is part of a complete episode...

