If there’s a logophile on your gift list, you have lots of choices, including a new trivia game for language-lovers and a murder mystery for the word-obsessed. Plus, if someone calls you a schmoozer, should you be flattered or insulted? And if...
Susie Dent’s murder mystery Guilty by Definition (Bookshop|Amazon) follows a lexicographer in Oxford who becomes a sleuth of a different kind, seeking the culprit in a long-unsolved killing. A lexicographer herself, Dent includes lots of obscure and...
Susie Dent’s murder mystery Guilty by Definition (Bookshop|Amazon) uses the obsolete verb grob. It’s a 17th-century word meaning to search by touch, especially with the hand in a dark place, as when feeling around in a purse or pocket for keys or...
A caller from Indiana wonders if the T9 text-messaging function has led to the term book being a new term for “cool.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Why T9 Texting Can Make “Cool” Come Out as “Book”” Hi, you have A Way with Words...