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 done the...
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 few weeks ago, we asked...
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?” Linguists have a...
Bespoke, as in bespoke tailored clothing, comes from an old word meaning “spoken for”—to bespeak means to request or order a good or service. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Origin of Bespoke” Hello, you have A Way with Words...
If a command begins or ends with the word please, does that make the order optional? The hosts agree that generally it’s polite to honor such a request, despite the phrasing. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Does Please Make a...