Salon magazine writer Andi Zeisler likens the em-dash to black licorice: ”Those who like it love it; those who don’t will loudly and repeatedly let you know.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Black Licorice of Punctuation” You...
The now-extinct Tocharian languages were spoken in western China in the latter half of the first millennium CE. We have only fragments of written texts in these languages, but here’s part of a Tocharian love poem that conveys emotions that echo...
A Los Angeles, California, listener shares the following pangram, a succinct but understandable statement that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet: A quick fox jumps high / Vexing birds, zigzag winds fly / Haikus trap words, why? This is part of...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski says he and his fellow puzzlers often kibitz over familiar riddles, thinking up alternative answers. For example, the answer to “What month do people sleep the least?” is “February,” because that month has the fewest days. But...
Colette Hiller’s Colossal Words for Kids: 75 Tremendous Words: Neatly Defined to Stick in the Mind (Bookshop|Amazon) uses clever rhymes to help children learn big, fun-to-say words like magnanimous, discombobulated, and acquiesce. This colorful book...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been puzzling over eye rhymes, words that look like they should rhyme, but they don’t, like tough and plough. What is the eye rhyme in the following sentence? When I play peekaboo with my [ ], I so enjoy the sound of...
