Why is that annoying stuff in your email box called spam? Grant has the answer. Here’s the Monty Python skit that inspired it. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Email Spam” I heard from Vicki in Madison, Wisconsin...
Susan, a nursing student in Madison, Wisconsin, asks why medical shorthand uses GTTS to mean “drops” or “drips,” as in medication given by drip. The abbreviation comes from Latin gutta, “drop,” with the vowels removed and an English plural -s added...
Obamamania, Obamabot, Obamathon, Obamamentum— the list of variations on the name “Obama” goes on and on. Is there an English word that means “the in-laws of your son or daughter”? And what does it mean when someone...
Before “Recombobulation Area,” “Discombobulate” Joined 1830s American Joke Words Like “Absquatulate”
At Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport, a post-security sign reading “RECOMBOBULATION AREA” plays on discombobulate, meaning to confuse or throw into disorder. Rissa from Madison wondered where discombobulate came from after seeing it while...
Jack in Madison, Wisconsin, wondered in the half-awake hours whether fillet and flay share an origin. They don’t. Fillet, also pronounced like French filet, comes through Old French from Latin filum, “thread,” the source of filament. Flay is...
In our latest online-only episode, Martha’s been putting together a collection of your favorite collective nouns and Grant joins her to swat around a caller’s question about what to call a game of tennis when you have only three players...