So you’ve long dreamed of writing fiction, but don’t know where to begin? There are lots of ways to get started — creative writing classes, local writing groups, and books with prompts to get you going. The key is to get started, and...
Unwrap the name of a candy bar, and you just might find a story inside. For instance, one chewy treat found in many a checkout lane is named after a family’s beloved horse. And: 50 years ago in the United States, some Latino elementary...
Max, a paramedic in Dallas, Texas, says that in his line of work, the term snowed describes a patient whose level of drug intoxication is so high that they’re aware only of themselves. Snowed in this sense may stem from an analogy with the sensory...
Tom, a medical student in Minneapolis, Minnesota, says surgeons and emergency medical personnel compliment each other with the phrase strong work on that. The congratulatory expression strong work seems largely confined to medicine, though. Another...
Celestial discharge, in medical slang, refers to a patient’s death. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Celestial Discharge” I ran into my friend Jeff Sanchez the other day at the grocery store. And he’s a...
Asher in Burlington, Vermont, grew up wondering why his father jokingly called him a little Gomer. The nickname points to Gomer Pyle, the good-hearted goofball from The Andy Griffith Show who later became a U.S. Marine in his own 1960s sitcom. After...