Sharing a secret language. Did you ever speak in gibberish with a childhood pal, adding extra syllables to words so the adults couldn’t understand what you were saying? Such wordplay isn’t just for kids—and it’s not just limited to...
Gibberish and its variants aren’t just for goofy teens in the wayback of the station wagon. As Jessica Weiss notes in Schwa Fire, the online magazine about language, people all over the world speak various forms of it. Her article features...
Dear friends and listeners, As we near the end of our biggest year yet, we must raise $75,000 before 11:59 PM, December 31st. Reaching that goal will mean covering fixed costs: Broadcast studio rental. A sound engineer and board operator. Website...
Are your nightstand books all over the place? Why not stack ’em into a bookmash? A bookmash is a kind of found poetry formed from book titles! And we all know that honesty is the best policy. But does that mean you should correct the grammar of your...
What do you call a guy with a bald pate? A chrome dome? Maybe the lucky fellow is sporting a solar panel for a sex machine. Also, which would you rather open: a can of worms or Pandora’s box? Plus, ordinary vs. ornery, versing vs. versus...
What does it say about our driving that Americans have so many expressions that mean “to roll past a stop sign without stopping”? California stop, California roll, Michigan roll, and many more. We discuss them in our latest new episode...