You say that it’s raining or it’s cold, but what exactly is it? Sometimes called the weather it or the dummy it, this it in this case is a placeholder that makes sentence work grammatically. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “What is...
Barry Lopez was the author of Arctic Dreams (Bookshop|Amazon),winner of the National Book Award, and the editor, along with his wife Debra Gwartney, of Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape (Bookshop|Amazon). In the introduction to his...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle involves trying to predict how Google’s predictive search feature offers to complete various questions. For example, what are the search engine’s most likely suggestions if you type in the words Where are my? This is...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has crafted a challenge about polysyllabic words that are commonly represented by their first three letters, inspired by the popular online game “Among Us,” in which someone suspicious is simply sus. For example, what three...
In his book about language, A Mouthful of Air, Anthony Burgess offers a lyrical description of the satisfying way that grammar supports and enhances the thoughts we wish to express. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Mouthful of...
Mary Gordon in Austin, Texas, shares a delightful story about her elderly father and a handful of vegetables, which raises the question: what’s the plural of squash? Squashes? Or squash? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Mary Gordon...
