So you’ve long dreamed of writing fiction, but don’t know where to begin? There are lots of ways to get started — creative writing classes, local writing groups, and books with prompts to get you going. The key is to get started, and then stick with...
Britain’s new polar research ship is named RSS Sir David Attenborough, even though an online vote overwhelmingly chose the name Boaty McBoatface. Versions of this playful construction go back at least as far as a 1987 episode of the television show...
We’ve previously discussed the term “going commando,” meaning “dressed without underwear.” It first appears in print in 1974, but likely goes back further than that. The scene in a 1996 episode of Friends, wherein Joey goes commando in Chandler’s...
Some of the world’s most famous writers had to support themselves with day jobs. Martha and Grant discuss well-known authors who toiled away at other trades. Also this week Eskimo kisses, the frozen Puerto Rican treat called a limber, how the word...
Martha describes a funny linguistic misunderstanding she had while trying to read Harry Potter in Spanish. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Harry Potter en Español” Grant, we were talking earlier in the show about that point in...
To “go commando” means to “go without underwear.” But why commando? An Indiana listener says the term came up in conversation with her husband after one of them had a near-wardrobe malfunction. She mercifully leaves the rest to the imagination, but...