Why call it a doggy bag when it’s really for your husband? Grant and Martha talk about the language of leftovers and why we eat beef and not cow. And how old is the typical public-library patron? Plus, in Afghanistan, proverbs are part of...
Do you still take your leftovers in a doggy bag? The term used to refer to a bone or shank the chef would give a guest to take home to their dog. Nowadays, there’s no shame in keeping your leftovers, and that parcel goes by other names, like...
A few weeks ago, a listener was looking for a term to describe the copy of The Emperor’s New Clothes that he’d read many times as a child. In this picture book, the naughty bits were always cleverly covered up. Thinking he wanted a...
cover v.— «February 15 marks the start of the racehorse breeding season, where the leading equine Lotharios regularly put their human counterparts to shame. Weatherbys, the family-owned business responsible for registering every...
undercard n.— «Donofrio, who had back surgery Monday for injuries he traces in part to wrestling, said, “If you’re an undercard guy, if you don’t work, you don’t eat. That’s the shame of the business. You talk about the biggest...
gliberal adj.— «For the woman in what I call “gliberal” society today—postmodern, urbane, both bureaucratic and competitive—carrying a child has gone from a glorious condition to an inconvenient and even shameful one, in the...