Diana in Duncanville, Texas, notes a difference between British English and American English. In the United States, it’s common to say I am sitting down or He was sitting there or We were sitting there, but increasingly she hears people from England...
The SAT is changing things up, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just because words like membranous are no longer in the verbal section doesn’t mean kids aren’t learning important vocabulary. And speaking of useful terms, shouldn’t we have an...
The SAT is cutting depreciatory and membranous from the verbal section of the test, but don’t go insane in the membrane—there’s been no depreciation in knowledge among the youth. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “SAT Revision”...
If someone’s in a swivet, they’re flustered, panicky, or too distracted to concentrate. You might be in a swivet because you’re late, swamped with work, or hurrying to get the house ready before guests arrive. This is part of a complete episode...
Grant reads from a listener’s favorite poem by Lisel Mueller called “Why We Tell Stories.” It reads in part: “We sat by the fire in our caves,/ and because we were poor, we made up a tale/ about a treasure mountain/ that would open only for us.”...
Charlie, an SAT prep teacher in Santa Cruz, California, reports that local high-schoolers are using legit not just in the older sense of “genuine” or “acceptable,” but to mean “cool”: That’s legit. One student even uses it as a stand-in for an...
