The legendary baseball announcer Red Barber is credited with popularizing the term the catbird seat, the enviable position in poker where you’re last to bet. James Thurber’s amusing story “The Catbird Seat” published in The New Yorker helped...
The term cheap-john can refer to a miserly fellow, and also to a pawnbroker’s shop. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Judge Wants To Spit” You remember when we were talking about that expression, order in the court, the monkey...
The Phantom Tollbooth, the beloved children’s book by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, turns 50 this year. There are two new 50th anniversary editions of the book. As Adam Gopnik notes in a New Yorker magazine article, the book is the...
Hi, all — In this week’s archive edition, we discuss not-so-smartphones, “Erin” vs. “Aaron,” “who” vs. “whom,” what happens when you “overegg the pudding,” and what it means to “ride the cow, look for the horse.” New episodes start next week...
C-r-r-r-r-reeeeeeeeaaaaaak! Last weekend, we reached into the AWWW vault and pulled out an oldie but goodie, featuring “death eatin’ a cracker walkin’ backwards,” “graveyard shift,” “saved by the bell,” and “dead ringer.” We also discussed “Bob...
Howdy, logomanes! Speaking of manes, we begin with news from Miami, where, in last week's South Beach Stakes, a longshot mare (11-1) scored a surprise upset over the heavy favorite to win a $50,000 purse. The winner's name? "Way With...