All aboard! This week, a bit about the musical language of railroad conductors’ calls: “Anaheim, Azusa, and Cu-ca-monga!” Also, the origin of the military slang term cumshaw, tips for learning Latin, the influence of Spanish...
What do you say if you have guests over and someone in your family has stray food left on the face? In some households, the secret warning is “there’s a gazelle on the lawn.” But why a gazelle? Also, this week: the term for a party...
A listener from Bethel, Maine, calls with a riddle she heard at summer camp: The maker doesn’t want it, the buyer doesn’t use it, and the user never sees it. What is it? She also stumps the hosts with a puzzle: What adjective requires...
Grant has a riddle: “I never was, am always to be, no one ever saw me or ever will, and yet I am the confidence of all to live and breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?” This is part of a complete episode.
Martha shares a puzzle sent in by a listener: “What’s the longest word typed on the left hand’s half of the keyboard?” Hint: It’s the plural of a now-outmoded occupational term. This is part of a complete episode.
Grant reveals another riddle: It’s the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every place. What is it? This is part of a complete episode.