Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was supposed to keep thieves away — and some were as vicious as...
The initialism LLAS, meaning “love you like a sister,” isn’t a texting phenomenon—it goes back 30 or 40 years to when girls would write each other letters. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Love You Like a Sister” Another bit of...
Greetings from Martha, Grant, and our old friend, Tom Swifty! This week we’d like to welcome new listeners who hear us on CKIC 92.9 FM (KICK-FM) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Our latest episode features tech writer David Pogue taking the slang quiz, a...
You’ve heard people describe something momentous as “a watershed moment in history.” What is a watershed, exactly? Besides an Indigo Girls’ song, that is. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Watershed” Hello, you have A Way with Words...
Why do aviators say roger to indicate they’ve received a message? A pilot phones the show about that, wilco, and similar language. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pilot Language “Roger”” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this...
Martha is baffled when Grant shares another riddle involving “four stiff standers, two lookers, two crookers, and one switchbox.” Can you figure out the answer? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Guess the Animal Riddle” All right...