Tom at UC San Diego missed a meeting after hearing next Thursday, a phrase that can point to the coming Thursday or the Thursday after that, depending on timing and context. In natural conversation, people usually renegotiate dates with a follow-up...
The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What’s the best way to use a thesaurus? DON’T — unless, that is...
Some of us can’t go anywhere without a book or something to read. And one fast food joint hears you: Chipotle is now printing the work of famous writers on their paper cups. Speaking of fast food, saying that someone is two plums short of a Happy...
You’ve been reading a book but you’re just not into it. How do you quit it, guilt-free? How do you break up with a book? Also, what do you ask for when you go through the grocery checkout line: bag, sack, or something else? Plus, brung vs. brought...
You can’t kid a kidder, but you can buffalo a Buffalo buffalo, as we found out in this past weekend’s brand-new episode. We also enjoyed a magical puzzle and we explored: taking a bath or a haircut in finance uncanny valley lazy man’s load why...
Tony from Blacksburg, Virginia, asks why a meeting that gets pushed back is usually postponed to a later time, even though the phrase can sound as if it should mean moved earlier. The confusion depends on how speakers picture time moving along a...
