Grant and Martha discuss a new term, bike-shedding, and an old one, tohubohu. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bike-Shedding” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette. And I’m Grant...
When Barack Obama intoned, “I do not underestimate the enormity of the task ahead,” some grammar sticklers recoiled. Pointing to the word’s roots, they insist that enormity means not “large,” but “out of the...