Mark from Redmond, Washington, asks for the term for a person whose name happens to fit their line of work, such as CNN broadcaster William Headline, a preacher named James God, or the physician Dr. Hurt. Such names are called aptronyms or aptonyms...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski SUBjects Martha and Grant to a SUBlime puzzle in which he SUBmits clues to words that contain the sequence of letters S-U-B. For example, “a stand-in for an absent teacher” would be a SUBstitute. Now try this one: “This...
Zola from San Diego asks about the military slang Jody, usually spelled J-O-D-Y, for a man back home who steals a deployed soldier’s girlfriend or wife. The name appears to have developed from the older Joe the Grinder or Joe D. Grinder, with...
An Indianapolis listener who lives on same street where James Whitcomb Riley made his home wonders if the poet’s name has anything to do with the expression associated with living in high style, “the life of Riley.” Click on the “lyrics” button on...
Discover the joys (and temptations!) of two new books of collected wisdom: “The Yale Book of Quotations” edited by Fred Shapiro, and James Geary’s “Guide to the World’s Great Aphorists.” Grant explains why leafing through such books can be...
