What’s the best way to improve vocabulary and remember the words you learn? When a San Diego listener asks that question, Grant and Martha share vocabulary-boosting practical tips. Forget the flash cards and reach for a library card instead...
Hegemony is defined as “preponderant influence or authority over others.” But how do you pronounce it? Heh-JEH-mun-ee? HEDJ-uh-moh-nee? Heh-GEM-un-ee? A caller’s unsure which pronunciation is preferred. This is part of a complete...
Marty in Denver wrote mooses in an email, but spell-check balked, and neither moose nor meese sounded right to him. Standard dictionaries and style guides give the plural as moose. It’s a zero plural, the same in singular and plural, like deer...
Does your family use a special word you’ve never heard anywhere else? A funny name for “the heel of a loaf of bread,” perhaps, or for “visiting relatives who won’t leave.” In this week’s episode, Martha and...
Tom from Phoenix still remembers losing a seventh-grade spelling bee over dilemma, because he had been taught there was a silent n and wrote dilemna. The standard spelling is dilemma, and the dictionaries checked don’t list dilemna. Still, Tom isn’t...
A retired theater professor wants to know why she keeps hearing the word dramaturge used in surprising new ways. Is dramaturged now a legitimate verb? Can the noun also refer to someone who adapts a play for particular production—and not just to the...