It’s Book Recommendation Time! Martha’s makes an enthusiastic case for The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World (Bookshop|Amazon). It’s historian Andrea Wulf’s biography of the polymath, adventurer...
A North Carolina listener says that when he was a boy and asked for something at a store that his father didn’t want to buy, his dad would reply Not today, Josephine. The origins of this phrase are unclear, although there is a story that it...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski is back with his news limerick game, but this time, he’s drawing from all of history–and reminds us that John Smith did not marry Pocahontas. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Historical News...
What is a popinjay? Literally a parrot, this term is often used in a military context to refer to a vain or conceited officer with a Napoleon complex. And a bandbox boy? That once commonly referred to an officer who gave excessive attention to his...
A Philadelphia listener has a Yiddish twist on an old palindrome: “Unable I was ere I saw Elba, nu?” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Yiddish Palindrome” We had an email recently from Jeff in Philly who...