At a Seattle, Washington, tech company, Vivian finds that she and her fellow employees are continually vexed by this question: Does bimonthly mean “once every two weeks” or “once every two months”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Brian from San Diego wonders whether forte, meaning a strength or strong point, should be pronounced as one syllable, “fort,” or two, “for-tay.” The word is skunked: sticklers may object to the common two-syllable pronunciation, but most speakers...
A transplant from Zimbabwe finds the word irregardless annoying and ungrammatical. Grant explains that regardless of its status, “irregardless” is needlessly redundant. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Regardless vs. Irregardless”...
Evan in Madison, Wisconsin, learned that peruse means to read closely and carefully but keeps hearing it used for a quick skim. The older sense was even stronger, meaning to use thoroughly, use up, or exhaust, and then later to pore over a text long...
Does the expression “call a spade a spade” have racist roots? Martha explains that it derives from an ancient Greek phrase, but cautions against its use nevertheless. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Call a Spade a Spade” Hello...
