The word podcasting is commonly used to refer to making podcasts, but it’s also used by some as the verb for listening to, downloading, or listening to podcasts. The language around podcasts has always been tricky since the format was released...
Julia in Portland heard got your six on Stargate SG-1, where Air Force characters use it to mean “I’m watching your back.” The image is an analog clock: picture yourself at the center facing 12, and 6 is directly behind you. The expression likely...
Do you pronounce crayon like crown? This common variation tends to be a Midlands pronunciation. Americans may pronounce this word several ways, as this dialect map shows. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Dialects of...
Many public speakers, including President Obama, have developed a reputation for using the reduplicative copula. You know, that thing where he says, “the thing of it is, is…” In wonky speak, this is what happens when a cleft...
There’s a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time—feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, “What the heck does that mean?” and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just...
Bubbler, meaning water fountain, is strongly associated with eastern Wisconsin and Rhode Island, where John from Minneapolis grew up saying it as bubbla. One early trail leads to the Kohler Company in Wisconsin, which introduced a bubbling valve...