Listeners step up to help a caller from an earlier show who was seeking a succinct way to explain that a brain injury sometimes makes it difficult for her to remember words. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Explaining Why Words...
So, can a sentence begin with the word so? Which ones? So is oftentimes used in place of therefore to conclude an explanation, but more people are using it as a general sentence-starter, in the same vein as well. Grant notes that while it may be...
A listener from Richmond, Virginia, remembers an old game called buckeye that consists of metaphorically pulling someone’s leg, then calling Buckeye! and tugging one’s own lower eyelid. Martha suggests that it may be related to a 19th-century use of...
bagel v.—Gloss: To score no points. Note: The noun “bagel” has long been used in tennis and other sports to mean “zero.” «As usual after a defeat, Venus was tight-lipped, offering platitudes but no explanation as to what happened, especially in the...
whatifery n.— «I am glad that my hon. Friend has admitted what I believe was going through many of our minds—that we are baffled by the Minister’s explanation of what the clause is trying to do. I am certainly baffled. I suppose that the opposite...
Martha tries to unravel the tangled etymological web that connects gossamer, spiders, geese, and warm weather in a late autumn.