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Episode 1548

Yak Shaving

There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished...

Picayune

Mike calls from Bloomsberg, Pennsylvania to ask about the word picayune, meaning “petty.” Why would a New Orleans newspaper call itself The Times-Picayune? The adjective picayune, meaning “trifling” or...

two-percenter

two-percenter  n.— «I’m fed up with what I call the “2-percenters’”.…This was a case of people coming and spoiling a great day. We have a handful of knuckleheads that come out here and disrupt things. We’re not going to...

selling loads

selling loads  n.— «Cab rides in New Orleans aren’t even cheap, thanks to factors ranging from the high cost of cab leases to the unsavory practice of hotel employees “selling loads” to cabbies. “Just to get an airport...

red seat

red seat  n.— «Charlie Melancon’s victory in the bayou region of Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District proved that Democrats could win seats held by Republicans, or as he called them, “red seats.”» —“Democrats put best...

witches’ knickers

witches’ knickers  n.pl.— «Alaskans call them “tundra ghosts” and “landfill snowbirds.” In China, they’re “white pollution.” South Africans have sarcastically dubbed them their “national flower...

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