Ian in Clyde, North Carolina, is puzzled when a colleague uses the term blue million, meaning “a large amount.” Along with words like zillion and gazillion, this expression functions as an indefinite hyperbolic numeral. Sometimes the...
A recent call from a video editor looking for a fancy word to refer to extracting video from a computer drew a huge response from listeners trying to help. The suggestions they offered include cull, evict, expunge, expede, disassemble, de-vid, and...
If you have seven oranges in one hand and six in the other, what have you got? “Really big hands”–and a really bad joke. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Big Hands, Bad Joke” You’re listening to...
Why is that annoying stuff in your email box called spam? Grant has the answer. Here’s the Monty Python skit that inspired it. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Email Spam” I heard from Vicki in Madison, Wisconsin...
What do you call that jarring sensation when you see a radio personality for the first time, and he looks nothing like what you expected? The hosts talked about it in a past episode. Listeners responded with more words for this phenomenon. This is...
A one-off is something that is done or made or occurs just once. A Washington State caller who’s curious about the term learns that it derives from manufacturing lingo. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of One...