“A fish stinks from the head down.” When an Indianapolis woman is quoted saying that, she’s accused of calling someone a stinky fish. She says she wasn’t speaking literally, insisting that this is a turn of phrase that means...
The answer to the riddle “Nature requires five, custom gives seven, laziness takes nine, and wickedness eleven” is hours of sleep a night. It comes from a collection of riddles gathered from Black schoolchildren in New Orleans and printed in early...
A woman who grew up in India says she was baffled when someone with aching feet complained, “My dogs are barking.” The answer may lie in a jocular rhyme. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “My Dogs are Barking”...
Word nerd Ammon Shea quit his job as a furniture mover in New York City to spend an entire year reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary. The result, in addition to eyestrain, headaches, and skeptics’ puzzlement, was Shea’s new book...
wasteman n.— «Varley, who has toured with Kano and G-Unit, has as much chance as any of them. She’s feisty as hell, dissing “wastemen” (vernacular for playa).» —“No 403: Envy” by Paul...
A listener phones with his pet restaurant peeve: When your waiter ask, “Are you still working on that?” Martha and Grant agree and pile on with gusto. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Still Working on That”...