A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who’s there? Boo. Well… you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goofy jokes were a brand-new craze sweeping the nation...
Mallory, a seventh-grader in Colorado with lots of freckles in a family that mostly doesn’t, asks about freckle. The word is recorded in English as far back as the 14th century, though its deeper origin is uncertain. It probably came through a...
The stories behind the brand names of automobiles is sometimes surprising. The name of the Audi derives from a bilingual pun involving a German word, and Mazda honors the central deity of Zoroastrianism, with which the car company’s founder...
Mozzarella, feta, and schnitzel all carry a relevant kitchen verb in their names. Mozzarella comes from an Italian word meaning “cut,” and feta from a Greek word with the same meaning. German schnitzel also derives from a word meaning “to cut,” the...
Schadenfreude, from German for “damage-joy,” means “delight in the misfortune of others.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Schadenfreude” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Camille...
Witzelsucht, a German term often translated as joke addiction, refers to an uncontrollable urge to make puns or tell bad jokes, but not in the playful way pun lovers may hope. In medical use, it describes a rare and serious neurological condition...