Try this tricky puzzle: Take the words new door and rearrange their letters into one word. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “New Door Word Puzzle” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski is on the hunt for four-letter words hidden inside related words. For example, find the related four letter word hidden in the last word of this sentence: A union member might find him despicable. This is part of a...
When writing a business letter, what’s a modern salutation that doesn’t sound as stuffy as “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam”? “To Whom It May Concern,” perhaps? The answer depends on the context and the...
If you simply read each letter aloud, you can see why O.U.Q.T.! U.R.A.B.U.T.! can be interpreted to mean “Oh, you cutie! You are a beauty!” A statement expressed that way with letters, numerals, or drawings is called a rebus, or, if...
A listener in Norwich, Connecticut, is going through a trove of love letters her parents sent each other during World War II. In one of them, her father repeatedly used the word hideous in an ironic way to mean “wonderful.” Is that part...
A two-syllable, five-letter word keeps the same pronunciation when you remove its first letter, its last letter, or the letter in the exact middle. The trick depends on the sounds of the remaining letters, not on a hidden definition. This is part of...