Will Shortz, crossword editor of the New York Times and puzzlemaster on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday,” shares a quiz about a whole menagerie of animals with names that are portmanteaus. For example, if you could cross a chipmunk and a...
Jim in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, says that during childhood games of touch football, he and his friends would count out the required three seconds before rushing as Mississippi one, Mississippi two, Mississippi three. Other ways of counting...
A Seattle, Washington, listener wants to know why, when marking time, we say “one Mississippi, two Mississippi,” as opposed to other states or rivers. In the United Kingdom, they’re more likely to say hippopotamus. Some people...
The stunning play “Our Lady of Kibeho”, set in Rwanda, includes some powerful East African proverbs gathered by playwright Katori Hall, such as “A flea can bother a lion, but a lion cannot bother a flea,” and “When two...
The plural of hummus isn’t easy to pin down, because although the word’s ending looks like a Latin singular, it’s actually Arabic. For waiters and party hosts serving multiple plates of hummus, it’s not wrong to say hummuses...
hippo’s tooth n.— «At the same time, the cement bollards, affectionately known as “hippo teeth,” will be replaced by historically correct guardrails made of cedar and steel.» —“Mountain rehab is tough trek” by...