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Which came first, orange the color or orange the fruit? And what’s a busman’s holiday? Martha and Grant talk about bumbershoots, brollies, nursery rhymes, and alternatives to the word unicycle. Plus, an app-inspired quiz, favorite...
You know those words whose meanings never seem to stick in your mind, no matter how many times you flip back to the dictionary? Martha wrestles with the term atavistic, meaning “the tendency to revert to ancestral characteristics.” She...
Some teachers are using a controversial tactic to get young students reading: They let their pupils choose which books to read for class. Does it work? Also, should that line at the grocery store checkout read 15 items or less or fewer? And is the...
A Texas listener recounts an ongoing debate in her family’s kitchen over the exact definition of the word spatula. Is it the kitchen tool used to spread icing and level measuring cups? Something you use to flip a pancake? That item with the...
slippa n.— «The state’s struggling visitor industry hopes the Tourist in Chief’s obvious affection for slippas and shakas (Hawaiian slang for flip-flop sandals and a thumb-and-pinky salute) inspires more vacationers to follow his lead...
strip-and-flip v. phr.— «Typically, in a buyout situation like this, the new owners follow some variation on what has come to be called the strip-and-flip script. They proceed to gin up profits at their new holding by any means necessary...