To keep something at bay means to maintain a safe distance from it. But does this expression derive from an old practice of using bay leaves to ward off pestilence? This is part of a complete episode.
Enough about the Word of the Year. How about the Word of the Decade? Bailout? Google? Martha and Grant discuss some candidates. Also in this episode, does speaking a different language make you feel different emotions? What did Don Draper on Mad Men...
Grant’s been collecting contenders for 2009’s Word of the Year, including Dracula sneeze, Government Motors, and… unumbium? This is part of a complete episode.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski says he’s been visiting some “niche” high schools, all of which have the word “High” in them, maybe in reverse of a standard phrase. How about this one: “The school where they study...
Grant and Martha discuss more goofy names for lipstick. Mauvelous Memories, anyone? This is part of a complete episode.
Hurly-burly, helter-skelter, zigzag, shilly-shally— the hosts dish out some claptrap about words like these, otherwise known as reduplications or rhyming jingles. This is part of a complete episode.