In this week’s episode, “It was bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” Martha and Grant discuss their favorite first lines from novels. Also this week, palmer-housing, beanplating, meeting cute, bad billboard grammar, and...
Busman’s holiday is time off spent doing something closely related to one’s work, not necessarily clocking in on a day off. Tracy in Pleasanton, California, remembers using it to describe her father, who worked for TWA at San Francisco airport and...
What’s in a pet’s name? Martha and Grant swap stories about how they came up with names for their dogs. Also this week: Have you ever been called a stump-jumper? How about a snicklefritz? And what’s the last word in the dictionary? Depending on...
Greetings! Over the weekend, we played an archive episode featuring a special holiday quiz by John Chaneski. We also talked about “enormity,” “doorknob-hanging,” “cut to the chase,” and oddly phrased headlines. As you have probably noticed, it’s...
cashed-up adj.—Gloss: Having a lot of money. «Another speaker at the summit, futurist Ross Honeywill, points out that boomers or the “cashed-up and cranky,” as he calls them are active and immediate holiday-takers, with half of them intending to...
marade n.— «Former Denver first lady Wilma Webb spearheaded the formation of the Marade—a combination march and parade. She founded the Martin Luther King Holiday Commission and pushed to make it a state holiday when she served in the legislature...
