In the game of appending -ing to a movie title to change its plot, the movies Strangers on a Train and Network both become films about corporate life. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Strangers on a Training” We were...
A clopen shift is the weary-making retail or restaurant assignment where someone closes the business late, then comes back the next morning to reopen. The blend comes from close plus open, with variants such as clopening for the act of working one...
What film title, when translated from its Spanish version, is known as An Expert in Fun? It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! Now take a crack at decoding these two: Love without Stopovers and Very Important Perros. This is part of a complete...
If a lady is no better than she ought to be, her sexual morals may be in question. The saying, recently popularized by the BBC program Downton Abbey, is what’s known as a charientism, or a bit of sugar-coated snark. By the way, if you’d...
Grant reveals the surprising origin of the term lunatic fringe. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Origin of Lunatic Fringe” Here’s a here’s a did you know martha a did you know okay you know the expression...
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This week’s archive episode is one of our favorites, all about the language of love — or, if you prefer, the language of “less than three.” If you look sideways at

