A retired Montana listener says a buddy fondly referred to their friend group as geezers, a joking term for a person, usually male, who’s advanced in years, possibly with too much time on their hands. In 19th-century England, the word geezer more...
After our conversation about artist Alan Nakagawa’s project featuring haiku about social distancing, listeners share some poetry of their own. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Social Distancing and Pandemic Haiku” You’re listening...
Artist Alan Nakagawa’s project involving haikus about social distancing includes a funny take on just how blurred boundaries can become while under lockdown. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Another Lockdown Haiku” I was sharing...
Whatever Roget’s Thesaurus may have you believe, sinister buttocks is not a synonym for “left behind.” But a growing number of students are blindly using the thesaurus, or Rogeting, trying mask plagiarism. And it’s not working. This is part of a...
The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What’s the best way to use a thesaurus? DON’T — unless, that is...
voice writing n.— «In the US, court reporters have abandoned stenotype machines, whose keyboards use chord-like combinations to represent sounds, for a technique called voice writing. The “writer”—really a speaker—repeats testimony into a...