In the 1930s, a bit of doggerel made the rounds: I come before you to stand behind you to tell you about something I know nothing about. A listener named Patrick sent a longer version that continues Next Tuesday, the day after Friday, there will not...
A Latvian expression that translates as “Did a bear stomp on your ear?” is a more colorful, though no more kind, way to tell someone they have no ear for music. Also heard in Latvia is an idiom that translates as “You’re...
Betty in Idlewild, California, notices that when she repeats a word while writing, even an ordinary one like among, it can start to look misspelled or meaningless. That temporary blanking-out is called semantic satiation, the mind’s sense that a...
What was your favorite camp song? If it sounds like nonsensical scat singing, it may date back to a radio character named Buddy Bear who sang in scat on the Buddy Bear show in the 1940s, “Bobo ske deeton-dotten.” This is part of a complete episode...
Hey, look: there are three brand-new episodes to tell you about! Each includes a few rounds of devious word puzzles cooked up by our quiz guy John Chaneski, as well as: Last weekend, “Secret Gibberish”: piggyback gibberish the...
The English language has no shortage of words that mean nonsensical talk, including one that’s piqued a listener’s curiosity: How did flannel come to mean “empty chatter” or “hot air,” as in “Don’t...
