Zack in Tallahassee, Florida, wonders: Why do we use the name John Doe to refer to someone anonymous or unknown? The names John Doe and Richard Roe go back to at least the 1300s, when they were used in land-related legal matters as pseudonyms for...
Tuna may be the chicken of the sea, but octopi, lobsters and crabs are the hens. That is, the females of each those species is called a hen. Aaron Zenz’s lovely book for children I Love Ewe: An Ode to Animal Moms offers a little lesson about...
Does and bucks are female and male deer, respectively. But what do you call female and male gerbils. Why, they’re does and bucks, too. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Does and Bucks” We were talking earlier about...