In Minnesota and some nearby states, the children’s game Duck Duck Goose is known as Duck Duck Gray Duck. This is part of a complete episode.
What do your pronouns say about your own psychological makeup? If you use the word I a lot, does it mean you’re a leader . . . or a follower? A surprising study suggests that people of lower status in a group tend to use I the most. Also, a...
Brian from Edison, New Jersey, is pondering this linguistic mystery: The Mid-Atlantic convenience store chain Wawa has a goose as its logo. The Algonquin term for “goose” is wawa, and the French for “goose” is oie, pronounced...
“Home again, home again, jiggity-jig!” A listener wonders about the origin of this phrase her Mother often used. Grant and Martha trace it back to another mother: Mother Goose. The full line goes, “To market, to market, to buy a...
The expression “It’ll never be seen on a galloping horse” means “Don’t be such a perfectionist.” But why? A caller remembers an even odder version: It’ll never be seen on a galloping goose. This is part of a...
Martha tries to unravel the tangled etymological web that connects gossamer, spiders, geese, and warm weather in a late autumn.