Jan from Madison, Wisconsin, remembers her grandfather saying ignorance gone to seed about anything that struck him as really stupid. On its own, gone to seed means moved beyond the point of cultivation, like an untended yard full of tall stems and...
If someone feigns ignorance, a Greek might describe him with an expression that translates as “he pretends to be a duck.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pretend to be a Duck, in Greek” Another bit of Greek...
Another word of the year candidate is immappacy, which is formed by analogy with “innumeracy,” and means the inability to understand maps. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Immappacy” Every year when I put...
lift n.— «One consulting firm he knew of lost a bid to help an airline modernize its ticketing process when it revealed its ignorance of the term “lift,” common parlance in the industry for tickets.» —“Not-So-Small...
Greetings, oh wordy ones! We're on vacation, so this past weekend's broadcast was a repeat--uh, "encore presentation"--that originally aired December 2nd and 3rd. It's the one in which we geek-out over...
moneyball n.— «The word, moneyball, has pried its way into the baseball lexicon. There are moneyball players and moneyball teams. As with any kind of contrived language, the use of the term carries with it the stigma of stereotype, which...
