Steven from San Antonio, Texas, seeks a word that means “the opposite of trauma.” Perhaps eustress, literally “good stress”? Or harmonization? Placid? Is there a better term for this? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “What Word...
In The Autobiography of Charles Darwin (Bookshop|Amazon), the great scientist writes, “If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.” This is part of a complete...
Haiku poetry from Mark in Hyattsville, Maryland, offers a timely snapshot of work-at-home life. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Work-at-Home Haiku” We are still getting haiku from listeners about the way we live now, and this one...
A funny piece in The New Yorker by Jay Martel suggests a new lexicon for the pandemic, including the body mullet worn on Zoom calls (“Business up top, party down below”), and new names for days of the week to reflect the way they all seem to run...
Terry, a health-care worker in Traverse City, Michigan, says she and her colleagues use the term cohorting to describe the act of grouping patients with COVID-19 in designated facilities. But they’re not sure what word to use to denote reintegrating...
An artist asks strangers to write haiku about the pandemic and gets back poetic, poignant glimpses of life under lockdown. Plus, the new book Queenspotting features the colorful language of beekeeping! Bees tell each other about a good source of...

