Put a plate of milk in front of a cat, and you know that cat will catillate. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Catillate” Here’s another limerick from the Omnificent English Dictionary in limerick form. This is for the word catilate...
For language lovers, it’s like New Year’s, Fourth of July, and the Super Bowl all rolled into one: The brand-new online edition of the Dictionary of American Regional English. Martha and Grant explain what all the fuss is about. Plus, the debate...
The animal called an aardvark takes its name from an Afrikaans term meaning “earth pig.” The word is cognate with the English words earth and pork. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Aardvarks” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi...
Greg Pliska’s game Double Definition uses a cryptic-crossword trick: each clue gives two meanings that point to the same word, with no separate wordplay half. A clue such as trim a tree splits neatly in two, and crazy flying mammals works the same...
“Only the grass dies when elephants fight.” This Liberian proverb is a reminder that it’s the powerless who suffer when governments or factions fight. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Liberian Proverb” From time to time we talk...
A listener was confused when she heard a radio announcer say a man had “Amanda Lynn” in his hands, only to find out that it was “a mandolin.” These funny misheard phrases are called mondegreens, a term coined in Sylvia Wright’s 1954 Harper’s...
