Novelist Charles Dickens and the musician Prince were very different types of artists, but they also had a lot in common. A new book chronicling their extraordinary careers becomes a larger meditation on perfectionism and creativity itself. Plus...
Jacob in Frankfort, Kentucky, remembers that on foggy mornings in Appalachia, he’d hear grownups say that the groundhogs are making coffee. Writer Jesse Stuart, who served as Kentucky’s Poet Laureate in the mid-1950s, wrote evocatively about how on...
After inadvertently maligning marmots in an earlier discussion of the term “whistle pig,” Martha makes a formal apology to any marmots that might be listening. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Martha’s Marmot Apology” You’re...
Whistle pig, woodchuck, and groundhog are all terms for a marmot, a type of large squirrel found in the United States. The name whistle pig, common in Appalachia, is a jocular reference to the sound they make. This is part of a complete episode...
Vermont is one place—but not the only one—where non-natives are referred to as flatlanders, and people who’ve been around generations proudly call themselves woodchucks. It’s written about on Shawn Kerivan’s blog, Innkeeping Insights in Stowe. This...
life-flight v. phr.— «And that’s when he trots out his new verb. We’ve heard of someone being life-flighted. But Groundhog-Day-ing? Sure it’ll make the wonky hosts of “A Way With Words” shudder, but hey, it works.» —“Old hits, new horizons for John...