Which came first, orange the color or orange the fruit? And what’s a busman’s holiday? Martha and Grant talk about bumbershoots, brollies, nursery rhymes, and alternatives to the word unicycle. Plus, an app-inspired quiz, favorite...
When it comes to language, who’s the decider? Grant explains how grammar rules develop. Also, what’s tarantula juice, and what’s the difference between a muffin top and a smiley? We discuss these and other terms from Green’s...
Is it grammatically correct for a high school football team to call itself the Vanguards? A Wisconsin listener argues that Vanguard is already a plural noun. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Vanguards” Hello, you...
What’s in a pet’s name? Martha and Grant swap stories about how they came up with names for their dogs. Also this week: Have you ever been called a stump-jumper? How about a snicklefritz? And what’s the last word in the dictionary...
Some office workers say their word processor’s spellchecker always flags the words overnighted and overnighting. Are those words acceptable in a business environment? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Overnighted”...
Is the TV show Hawaii Five-0 named for Ford Mustang 5.0 engines in police cruisers? No, and it’s correctly typed with a zero instead of the letter “O.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hawaii Five-0”...