After our conversation about families’ nicknames for household appliances, Luke in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, tells the story of a gesture that evolved in his own family to indicate it’s snack time. This is part of a complete episode...
Destiny from Huntington Beach, California, speaks German proficiently, plus some Spanish. She’s now learning Russian, but finds herself frustrated as she reaches instead for Spanish words for the same thing. This phenomenon is so common among...
In many cultures, tugging at one’s lower eyelid is an expression of skepticism, as if to indicate that the person is being watchful and alert and won’t be taken in. In the United States, the gesture may be accompanied by a phrase like “Do you see...
A listener in Plaza, North Dakota, says he tried to signal some teenagers to lower their car window by moving his fist in a circle, but since they grew up with push-button window controls, they didn’t understand the gesture. What’s the...
Having a chip on one’s shoulder means spoiling for a fight. Frank from Richardson, Texas, and his son wondered what kind of chip that was after hearing about a Dallas Cowboys player’s tattoo combining his draft number with a potato chip...
Books for sale, books for free, and wisdom passed down through the ages. Libraries aren’t just repositories for books — they’re often a great place to find gently used volumes for sale. Or you can always visit a “little free...