kilowatt laundering n.— «Electricity sold by CEZ of the Czech Republic to Romania for 40 euros per MW was later resold by electricity traders in the Greek stock market for 80 euros to 90 per MW. The practice is known as ‘kilowatt...
To-ga! To-ga! To-ga! John Chaneski’s latest quiz, “Classics Class,” has the hosts rooting around for the ancient Greek and Latin origins of English words. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Classics Class...
If Grandma thinks you’re coming down with the epizootic, she’ll probably want to put you to bed and bring you a bowl of soup. But what’s an epizootic, anyway? And does being diagnosed with it make you feel better or worse? This is...
A listener in Brazil challenges Martha’s pronunciation of the odd English word antipodes. Their email exchange leads Martha to muse about a favorite collection of poems, where she first encountered this word.
You seem to hear it on all the television hospital dramas: “stat!” A physician says she knows it means “immediately,” but she doesn’t know its origins. Quick! Is there a Latin expert in the house? This is part of a...
This week’s Slang This! contestant is from Boston. She shares a slang phrase making the rounds among her friends at MIT: “find your pants.” She then tries to guess the meaning of the slang term boilover and the obscure word...