On our Facebook group, a listener posted a photo of a doubletake-worthy sign. in her local grocery, which reads, “We Now Offer Boxes to Bag Your Groceries.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Boxes to Bag...
Sneaky contract lingo, advice for writing well, and preserving a dying language. Say you’re scrolling through an online transaction where you’re asked to read the “Terms and Conditions.” Do you actually read them or just check the...
A Massachusetts native living in Washington, D.C. says her professor and classmates had no idea what she meant by a “light dawns on Marblehead” moment. It’s a reference to the town of Marblehead in her home state, on an outcropping...
Someone who “looks like the wreck of Hesperus” isn’t exactly looking their best. The idiom comes from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, inspired by an 1839 blizzard off the coast of Massachusetts that destroyed 20 ships. This is...
Carriage, cart, wagon, buggy — how do you refer to that giant basket on wheels you push around the grocery store? As the Harvard Dialect Survey shows, the answer depends on what part of the United States you’re from. See the big Facebook...
Someone on the dull side might be described as “sharp as a marshmallow sandwich.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Marshmallow Sandwich” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Jess Haberman calling...