Our discussion of Anglo-Saxon kennings inspired listener Paul Holler of Arlington Heights, Illinois, to write a lovely poem exploring the idea of the kenning sea-guest, meaning “sailor,” and what it means to be a guest of the sea and what that says...
If you work in tech support, you might use snarky slang for problems caused by computer users themselves. There’s the acronym PEBCAK, for example, which stands for Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard. And: a lush poem about the sea inspired by...
Bethany in Ithaca, New York, wants a word that sums up a way she’s feeling lately: being desperately lonely, but also reveling in her solitude. She’s toying with her own coinage based on Greek and Latin roots having to do with “solitude” and “split...
To warn away thieves, medieval scribes sometimes added a written curse to the colophon of a precious book. Curses were once considered such powerful deterrents that they were sometimes added to Anglo-Saxon legal documents. This is part of a complete...
The months September, October, November, and December derive from Latin words that mean “seven,” “eight,” “nine,” and “ten” respectively. So why are they applied to the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months of the year? The answer lies in the...
Nook-shotten is an old word meaning that something has many corners or projections. Shakespeare used it in Henry V when he spoke about the nook-shotten isle of Albion. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Nook-Shotten” Here’s an odd...
