Summer brings a shift to weekly online audio releases instead of new radio broadcasts. The production team continues to read audience messages and social media posts. The linguistic concept of a pleonasm receives an explanation through the phrase...
Are fairy tales too scary for children? A survey of parents in Britain found that more than half wouldn’t read them to their children before age five. Martha and Grant discuss the grisly imagery in fairy tales, and whether they’re too...
Barack Obama wants to put people to work building roads and bridges. But how about a federal jobs program for out-of-work writers? Also: why do we call it a flight of wine? How did the haircut called a mullet get its name?
Does the expression to boot, as in “I’ll sell you this Hummer and throw in a free tank of gas to boot,” have anything to do with booting up a computer? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “To Boot” Hello...
Martha explains the origin of the word coin, as in “to coin a phrase.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of Coin” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Noah Taylor calling from Seneca, South...
Humorist Roy Blount Jr. sits down with Grant for a conversation about the controversy over writers’ rights, the Amazon Kindle 2, Roy’s recent book, Alphabet Juice, “sonicky” words, and noodling for catfish. He also clears up...