Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. Also, warm memories of how a childhood...
Jelani Cobb, a writer for The New Yorker, began a lovely thread on Twitter by asking readers to talk about their first library card. That online discussion also prompted fond memories from the hosts about the majestic main branch of the Louisville...
A Twitter user shares a heart-melting observation about his eight-year-old’s habit of reading under the covers at night. This is part of a complete episode.
How do languages change and grow? Does every language acquire new words in the same way? Martha and Grant focus on how that process happens in English and Spanish. Plus, the stories behind the Spanish word gringo and the old instruction to...
A highly anticipated children’s book and the epic history behind a familiar vegetable: fans of illustrator Maurice Sendak eagerly await publication of a newly discovered manuscript by the late author. And speaking of children’s...
A woman in Virginia Beach, Virginia, wants to know the pronunciation of floccinaucinihilipilification, and why such a long word means “the habit of estimating something as worthless.” This is part of a complete episode.