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Fits and Starts

A Connecticut listener says her Generation Y friends make fun of her when she describes something happening in fits and starts. Is it that antiquated a phrase? Where does it come from, anyway? This is part of a complete episode.

Trade-Lasts

A North Carolina woman says when she told her friend she had a TL for her, the friend had no idea what she was talking about. She learns that the term is a shortened form of a secondhand compliment also known as a trade-last or last-go-trade. This...

Vomitorium

Ask a Roman! A theater student from Texas is having an argument with a friend about the word vomitorium. He says that in ancient Rome, a vomitorium was a room where revelers went to purge after overindulging at the banquet table. True? This is part...

Mischief Night

In many neighborhoods, the night before Halloween is the night when pranksters run around wreaking all kinds of mischief–toilet-papering houses, spraying windows with shaving cream, ringing doorbells and then running away. A Connecticut woman...