If you want to be a better writer, try skipping today’s bestsellers, and read one from the 1930’s instead. Or read something besides fiction in order to find your own metaphors and perspective. Plus, just because a city’s name...
Victorian slang and a modern controversy over language and gender. In the early 1900’s, a door-knocker wasn’t just what visitors used to announce their arrival, it was a type of beard with a similar shape. And in the 21st century: Is it...
Hundreds of years ago, the word girl didn’t necessarily mean a female child — in the 14th and 15th centuries, it could refer to a child of either sex. Only later did its meaning become more specific. • Some people think that referring to a...
A man in Carlsbad, California, contends that the word ex for “a former partner” or “a former spouse” sounds too harsh. Is there a better term besides wasband? This is part of a complete episode.
Responding to our discussion about what to call a baby shower for a dad-to-be, one listener suggests the term bro bath. This is part of a complete episode.
When someone’s buried in a cemetery, you can visit their grave. But what do you call the place where you go to visit someone’s scattered ashes? Listeners ponder that question on our Facebook group. This is part of a complete episode.