Some listeners are madly in love with oxymorons, and they continue to share their favorites. One listener has a great T-shirt that reads “An oxymoron a day keeps reality away.” Another says his favorite oxymoron is “Dodge Ram...
The Google Books Corpus from Mark Davies at Brigham Young University tags words in Google Books with their parts of speech, so you can search how words really combine. For example, suitcase often follows battered, making battered suitcase a cliché...
Judy from New York asks whether enamored of or enamored with is the better choice. In North American English, both constructions appear, but enamored of is more common and less likely to distract readers; British English strongly favors enamored of...
Hi, ho! In this week’s episode, we discuss odd words, how children learn to talk, “in my wheelhouse,” “high as Cooter Brown,” and “good leather.” Greg Pliska metagrobolizes us with a quiz based on the 2011...
Couthy is a Scots adjective meaning sociable, agreeable, or friendly, with older senses including snug, plain, and homely. Like couth, the little-used opposite of uncouth, couthy is still around, if a bit old-fashioned. This is part of a complete...
What was your first word? Grant and Martha talk about how children acquire language. Also, if you say that something’s in your wheelhouse, you mean that it’s within your area of expertise. But why “wheelhouse”? And what does...