What’s an appropriate response when someone knocks on your bathroom stall? How about “You can come in, but you can’t sit down!” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Response from Inside the Bathroom...
Ho, ho, ho! In this week's episode, we discuss whether the term "Oriental" is offensive. We also talk about "not one iota," "take a gander," "learning curve," and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious...
This week, McGimpers, geetus, and other underworld lingo from the 1930s. Crime novelist James Ellroy stops by to talk slang terms and reveals his own favorite. Also, is the expression “Hear, hear!” or “Here, here!”? Is it...
A former naval flight officer wonders how the term cockpit ever came to mean the part of the aircraft where pilots sit. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Origin of Plane Cockpit” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi...
flitillary n.— «The erratic, zigzagging flight of courting and songbird-evading fritillaries prompt some people to refer to them as “flitillaries.” Actually, the genus name probably derives from fritillus, a cylindrical cup used by the...
pinger v.— «As searchers continue to comb thousands of square miles of ocean for debris from Air France Flight 447, their success could hinge on a device the size of a small flashlight that may well have been manufactured on Cape Cod...