How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so why didn’t we also adapt the French for black and white? • Not every example of writing goes in one direction across the page...
What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely depends on where you’re from. And: Martha’s visit to an Alaskan reindeer ranch reveals why you...
After our conversation about how to communicate an apology to another driver while on the road, Vasiliy in Waltham, Massachusetts, composed a poem about it. This is part of a complete episode.
A magnificent new book celebrates the richness and diversity of 450 years of written and spoken English in what is now the United States. It’s called The People’s Tongue, and it’s a sumptuous collection of essays, letters, poems...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski is puzzling over demonyms, those names people who reside in a particular area. For example, someone who lives in Brooklyn, New York, is a Brooklynite. People who live in Boston, Massachusetts, are called Bostonians, but what...
What kind of book is most often requested by people who are incarcerated? The book that prison inmates ask for the vast majority of the time is a dictionary. These books, as well as thesauruses, prove useful for mastering reading skills, writing...