Grant quizzes Martha about the meaning of several rhyming verb and noun phrases: cuff and stuff, the cherries and blueberries, chew and screw, eat it and beat it, and flap and zap. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Rhyming...
Pet names often take a while to settle, then keep changing. A tiny Maltese-poodle mix arrived as Mitzi, nearly became Daisy or Cucaracha, and finally became Lily, a name easy to call out in the urgent phrase “Lily, no!” A Great Pyrenees named Bandy...
Grant explains the meaning of the new slang term “far center,” and Martha tries to revive an antiquated term meaning “a corrupt politician,” snollygoster. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Far...
Grant talks about the lingo of criminals from 1930s. Here are more examples from police reporter Ben Kendall’s 1931 Los Angeles Times article, “Underworld ‘Lingo’ Brought Up-to-Date.” This is part of a complete episode...
Grant and Martha discuss a new collection of college slang compiled by UCLA linguistics professor Pamela Munro. Learn more about it and order a copy here. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “College Slang Collection”...
In this episode, Martha and Grant honor winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes, those wacky awards for weird academic research, and they help a caller decipher a puzzling word from a personals ad: what does paratereseomaniac mean?