Grant’s is a trivia-obsessed family. He and his wife participate in Learned League, an online trivia competition, and their son Guthrie now participates in Academic League, a high-school quiz league in San Diego, featuring questions from the...
Jackie from Cincinnati, Ohio, wonders about the idiom they look like the end of pea time, referring to someone who appeared disheveled or unkempt. The end of pea time, or the last of pea time, refers to the literal end of pea-growing season, when...
Erica in San Antonio, Texas, asks whether there’s a term for the soft noises that people make with their mouths while waiting, such as humming or whooshing, to pass the time. Another example might be that animated Typewriter Guy on Sesame Street who...
This week, it’s backhanded phrases, those snarky remarks that come sugar-coated in politeness, like “How nice for you,” “Oh, interesting!,” and the mother of all thinly veiled criticism, “Bless her heart.” Also this week, free reign vs. free rein...
Grant interviews Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings about the grueling nature of TV quiz shows, the fine art of writing trivia questions, the special challenges of competing in European quiz contests, and how it feels to answer incorrectly.
It’s “Slang for $500.” All-time Jeopardy! Champion Ken Jennings tackles his next logical challenge, the A Way with Words slang quiz. Ken puzzles over the meaning of brummagem and pluck of a pig, and tries to guess an usual meaning for the term...