National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a foreign language. And third, find out what you truly believe, because if you’re not writing from your...
Mondegreens are words misheard in song lyrics that still make a kind of sense, such as misunderstanding Just like a white-winged dove as Just like a one-winged dove. They’re sometimes called oronyms. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s take-off quiz involves removing the initial letter G from a word to leave another word. For example, imagine that John said, “That waiter who put fresh parmesan cheese on my lasagna? I’d give him a 7 or 8 out of 10.” What...
Rebecca in Seattle says a friend claimed another beer would slate his thirst, while another suggested slay his thirst. The standard expression is slake your thirst, meaning to quench or satisfy it. Slay your thirst works as an eggcorn, a misheard...
Rolling in the deep in Adele’s song builds on the slang expression roll deep, meaning to have loyal friends around you, people who have your back. In a Rolling Stone interview from February 2011, Adele traced the phrase to British slang, and the...
Greetings, all! In our most recent show, we talk about great words for Scrabble, plus "madcap" comedy, mondegreens, "No way, Jose!" "hubba hubba," and the name of that flourish underneath John Hancock's John Hancock...