You know those dull sports clichés like “We came to play” and “He left it all on the field”? They’re called bromides. The hosts explain the connection between the tired platitude and the sedative called potassium bromide. The answer involves a book...
A native of Southern Pennsylvania has always used the term macadam in place of asphalt. Martha traces the word from an old gravel road to the modern day tarmac. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Macadam” Hello, you have A Way with...
You’re falling asleep, then suddenly snap awake. There’s a term for that: hypnagogic startle or hypnic jerk. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hypnagogic Startle” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi. Hi, who’s this? This is Carrie...
sputter v.— «A thin gas of electrically charged particles called a plasma, the solar wind blows constantly from the surface of the sun at some 250 to 370 miles per second (about 400 to 600 kilometers/second). According to Slavin, that’s fast...
OMG, text messaging! It’s destroying the English language, corrupting young minds, turning us into illiterates. It’s probably shrinking the ozone layer, too. Or is it? In his new book, Txting: The Gr8 Db8, David Crystal offers a different...
food shed n.— «Noting that “(t)he premise of this method of adjusting exposure estimates is that varia tion in the pattern of distribution of the commodity across the population does not lead to significant differences in exposure for substantial...
