Martha Geiger of Sacramento, California, says her French teacher told her that the difference between a carousel and a merry-go-round is that one goes clockwise and the other counterclockwise. True? Actually, there’s really no difference...
Our Quiz Guy Greg Pliska takes a break from his music career to bring us a game called Initia-rithmetic. For example, if he says there are 4 P’s depicted on M.R., what do those initials stand for? The answer to that one is, you might say...
Leah from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, asks why the peninsula shared by Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia is called Delmarva. The name is a geographic portmanteau, built from Del-, mar-, and -va, much like nearby blended place names such as Delmar and...
A caller from Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, wonders about the origin of “knock on wood.” The hosts do, too. More about the unusual language of Ocracoke here. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Knock On...
In honor of the 44th U.S. president, Quiz Guy Greg Pliska offers a word game “Glom-a Obama.” The object: Figure out a series of rhyming two-word phrases by guessing the word to be added to the name “Obama.” For example, if Mr...
A caller from Juneau, Alaska, says she was tickled when her friend from the South told her he loves “vye-EEN-ers.” It took a while before she realized he was saying Viennas, as in that finger food so often found a can, the Vienna sausage...