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 young woman is puzzled when her boyfriend’s father says he was looking for someone who needs a good boy Friday. It’s most likely a reference to Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. The title character spends 30 years on a...
Many desert islands don’t look like a desert at all. They’re lush and green. That’s because the term reflects the old sense of desert meaning “wild and uninhabited.” This is part of a complete episode.
It’s the Up Goer Five Challenge! Try to describe something complex using only the thousand most common words in English. It’s a useful mental exercise that’s harder than you might think. Also, if you want to make a room dark, you...
Ever notice how you can sing the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” to the theme from “Gilligan’s Island”—or for that matter, to “The House of the Rising Sun”? Turns out there are many more examples of this. Is there...
A caller from Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, wonders about the origin of “knock on wood.” The hosts do, too. More about the unusual language of Ocracoke here. This is part of a complete episode.