If you’re on tenterhooks, it means you’re in a state of anxious anticipation or suspense. But what IS a tenterhook? The answer goes back to a 15th-century manufacturing process. Also, you probably have a term for those crumbs that...
We talked about passed away versus died on a previous episode, and got a lot of responses on our Facebook page saying that phrases like “I’m sorry for your loss” don’t do justice to the reality of what happened. This is part...
The Oxford comma is the comma before the final item in a list, which led Gabrielle’s third grader to a fine question: if Oxford is a famous school in England, is the comma its mascot? Oxford University doesn’t really have one, but the family’s...
We all lead busy lives—so are speed reading courses a good idea? Plus, if you hear someone speaking with a British accent, do you tend to assume they’re somehow more intelligent? And some common English surnames tell us stories about life in...
For the math lovers out there: Listeners on our Facebook page recommend Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh, and In Pursuit of The Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed The World by Ian Stewart. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Adam in Indianapolis grew up with his grandmother’s warning not to split a pole, meaning that two companions shouldn’t pass on opposite sides of a lamppost, mailbox, or other street obstacle. The idea is that the physical separation hints at an...