Writers and where they do their best creative work. A new book on Geoffrey Chaucer describes the dark, cramped, smelly room where he wrote his early work. Which raises the question: What kind of space do you need to produce your best writing...
We all lead busy lives—so are speed reading courses a good idea? Plus, if you hear someone speaking with a British accent, do you tend to assume they’re somehow more intelligent? And some common English surnames tell us stories about life in...
What do you call it when you’re out in public with friends but they’re all staring at their own cell phones? A listener from Santa Monica, California, suggests that the word techgether. This is part of a complete episode.
An SAT prep teacher in Santa Cruz, California, hears lots of teen slang in his work, and is struck by a new use of the term legit. This is part of a complete episode.
In this downbeat economy, some advertisers are reaching for upbeat language. Take the new Quaker Oats catchphrase, “Go humans go,” or Coca-Cola’s current slogan, “Open happiness.” Martha and Grant discuss whether...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski conducts a word puzzle involving musical instruments hidden in various sentences. Try this one: “My cousin is a Santa Monica zookeeper whose specialty is hummingbirds.” (Keep saying it over and over until you hear...