Karen from Santa Barbara, California, wonders about the verb to retire. Why doesn’t it mean to tire all over again? The Spanish word for retirement, jubilación, is cognate with the English word jubilation. This is part of a complete episode...
If you’re inappropriately focused on the minutiae of a project instead of the bigger picture, you’re said to be bike-shedding. Grant talks about that modern slang term and Martha discusses a word that goes way back in time, right back to “In the...
Where’d we get the term swan song? A caller says this expression came up in conversation just before her retirement and she wonders about its origin. Martha reads email from listeners suggesting alternatives to the word retirement. This is part of a...
Everybody has a nickname, and there’s usually a story to go with it. Martha and Grant reveal their own nicknames and the stories behind them. Also, is the expression “heebie-jeebies” anti-Semitic? And is there a better word than retiree for someone...
NORC n.— «As a model for Wayland and Lincoln, BHV is an example of what had recently come to be called “naturally occurring retirement communities,” or “NORCs,” in areas in which a large segment of the residents are older adults. BHV charges a...
lifecycle fund n.—Gloss: An investment arrangement in which money is invested in safer securities and investments as a person grows older. «The funds, also known as lifecycle funds, are designed to minimize risk by shifting the funds’ assets from...