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Tweet, Tweet! Polly Wanna Cracker!

Twittering, tweeting, twirtingβ€”it’s rare to see a whole new body of language appear right before your eyes. But that’s what’s happening with Twitter. We discuss the snappy new shorthand of the twitterati. Also, why do people feel...

Chicken Scratches and Creaky Voice

Does your handwriting look like chicken scratches, calligraphy, or maybe something in between? Martha and Grant discuss the state of penmanship, the phenomenon linguists call creaky voice, euphemisms for going to the bathroom, and the New England...

L-U-R-V-E, Love

Favorite online reading. If the subjunctive tense were to disappear from English, would anybody care? And just in time for this romantic weekend, a caller discovers the meaning of…lurve. That’s L-U-R-V-E.

Chain Reaction Word Game

Quiz Guys John Chaneski and Greg Pliska lead a couple of rounds of “Chain Reaction,” a word game that’s great for parties and long car rides. Two players try to make a third one guess the word that the other two are thinking of...

Days of Wine Flights and Mullets

Barack Obama wants to put people to work building roads and bridges. But how about a federal jobs program for out-of-work writers? Also: why do we call it a flight of wine? How did the haircut called a mullet get its name?

Souped Up and Sizzling (full episode)

Like mushrooms in fallen leaves, new words keep popping up overnight. Also, is there an English word that means “the in-laws of your son or daughter“? And what does it mean when someone says, “Well, that was odder than Dick’s...