Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been shopping at stores with misleading names. For example, he might buy baked goods from a bakery, but if he were to visit a store that sells flying mammals, he might assume it has something to do with power cells. What...
Eric from Harrisonburg, Virginia, wants to know: What’s the origin of footloose and fancy-free, which describes someone unencumbered by obligations or worries? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Footloose and Fancy...
So you’ve long dreamed of writing fiction, but don’t know where to begin? There are lots of ways to get started — creative writing classes, local writing groups, and books with prompts to get you going. The key is to get started, and...
The French word for “enamel” is émail, with an acute accent on the e. To avoid confusion, the French use courriel or simply le mail to denote those electronic missives. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “French “Émail” Means...
Among some African Americans, kitchen means the hair at the nape of the neck, the usage Mary in Kenai, Alaska, heard from her granddaughter. The Dictionary of American Regional English records it from the 1970s, and it is especially associated with...
Is there a word you keep having to look up in the dictionary, no matter how many times you’ve looked it up before? Maybe it’s time for a mnemonic device. And: a listener shares a letter from Kurt Vonnegut himself, with some reassuring...
