During the health care debate in Congress, there was lots of talk about an “up-or-down vote.” A Montana listener finds this expression annoying. What’s wrong with plain old “vote”? This is part of a complete episode.
A Dallas listener is struck by the fact that Texans talk about East Texas, North Texas, South Texas, and West Texas. So why, she wonders, do people in other states say things like Southern Indiana and Northern California? This is part of a complete...
The 2010 winner of the “Best Picture” Oscar has a Seattle woman wondering about the term hurt locker. Ben Zimmer wrote about it recently in his column at the Visual Thesaurus and we talk about it, too. Here’s the searing poem by...
The hosts talk about the tricks they use to remember how to spell certain words. This is part of a complete episode.
Sometimes the process of naming a pet takes a while. The hosts talk about how their dogs’ names evolved. This is part of a complete episode.
The hosts talk about some verses from Essential Pleasures, Robert Pinsky’s anthology of poems meant to be read aloud. This is part of a complete episode.