Anagrams, rebuses, cryptograms — Martha and Grant swap stories about the games that first made them realize that playing with words and letters can be fun. Also this week, what’s a jitney supper and where do you eat graveyard stew? The hosts...
A listener wonders about the origin of the phrase “your father’s mustache,” akin to the phrase “go jump in a lake,” or “your mamma wears combat boots.” Grant explains that it may sound more familiar as...
Rita in Taos, New Mexico, grew up calling the kitchen catchall for pencils, thread, tools, and birthday candles a Fibber McGee drawer. The expression comes from the radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, where one running gag sent Fibber to an...
Is the phrase whether or not redundant? Well, take this sentence: “Whether or not you like it, Martha is dressing as a ballerina.” Would that sound right without the or not? Now, the or not is technically redundant, but depending on the...
Need a good Scrabble word? Grant shares some of his favorites. Also, why do we call those classic screwball films madcap comedies? And what does it mean to walk in a crocodile? Plus mondegreens, naval slang, learned vs learnt, and “No way...
Ron in Escondido asks why street sometimes sounds like shtreet. English speakers around the world have noticed str shifting toward shtr for decades, in words such as street and straight. The likely mechanism is assimilation, in which neighboring...