Oorie-eyed, Ann’s family word for furiously angry, is real enough: it descends from Scots oorie, a word recorded since at least the 1700s. Earlier senses included dismal, sad, weak, sick, drooping, chilly, or cold, and later uses could refer to...
A listener in San Antonio is trying to decide how to address a mixed-gender graduating class from her nonprofit’s fellowship program. Alumnae is the plural for an all-female group of former students, while alumni works for an all-male group or a co...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game about funny softball team names. For example, the real-life name of the Whitney Museum’s employee softball team? Why, they’re the Whitney Houstons, of course. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Funny...
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski shares a game called Just O.K. Take a word, add the letters “O” and “K”, then transpose the letters to form a new word. For example, what froggy word could you form by adding an O and a K to the word car? This is part of a...
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a news of the year Limerick Challenge fit for word lovers and news hounds alike. Try to finish this one: When they speak of their great virtuosity / The team does not speak with pomposity / NASA’s rolling in clover /...
Tight games often end up at a rubber match, or tiebreaker. Used for a variety of sports and card games, rubber match has been in use since the late 16th century, and seem to have originated in the game of lawn bowling. This is part of a complete...