The request Can I pick your brain? can sound like a friendly appeal for advice, expertise, encouragement, or a quick reality check. A Facebook discussion showed how sharply reactions vary: some hear only the figurative meaning, while others picture...
A listener reports being puzzled by a phrase she heard from a woman for whom she’d done a small favor: Did you think you’d taken me to raise? Heard mainly in Kentucky and Ohio, this phrase is a joking suggestion that the person who has...
A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who’s there? Boo. Well… you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goofy jokes were a brand-new craze sweeping the nation...
A listener in Abu Dhabi responded to our request for literary limericks with one of her own. It starts with “There once was a lass on a ledge….” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Lass on a Ledge Limerick” A...
What a difference pronunciation makes! The United States has a Department of Defense, and an individual might take classes in self-defense. So why do football and basketball coaches say they’re proud of their . . . “DEE-fence?”...
Carolyn from San Diego asks why made-to-measure clothing, such as a Savile Row suit, is called bespoke. The word goes back to bespeak, meaning to discuss, arrange for, request, or order something. Tailors used it for goods made to order, and the...
