What do you call a guy with a bald pate? A chrome dome? Maybe the lucky fellow is sporting a solar panel for a sex machine. Also, which would you rather open: a can of worms or Pandora’s box? Plus, ordinary vs. ornery, versing vs. versus, dishwater...
A father of five shared with us his kids’ favorite joke. (Yes, it’s terribly corny.) This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Too Many Cheetahs” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant...
Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature — like, say, Dante’s Inferno? A literary website is doing just that. And, you’ve heard about the First World and the Third World...
The legendary baseball announcer Red Barber is credited with popularizing the term the catbird seat, the enviable position in poker where you’re last to bet. James Thurber’s amusing story “The Catbird Seat” published in The New Yorker helped...
When something happens above board, it means things are clear and in the open. But this has nothing to do with being on board a ship. Rather, it comes from the term board meaning “table,” as in room and board, and has to do with poker players...
Pungle is the mystery word in a two-choice quiz involving a baby platypus and putting down money. A clue points to western U.S. usage and a thoroughly Anglicized form from Spanish pongale, an imperative meaning “put it there” or “put it down.” This...
