OMG, text messaging! It’s destroying the English language, corrupting young minds, turning us into illiterates. It’s probably shrinking the ozone layer, too. Or is it? In his new book, Txting: The Gr8 Db8, David Crystal offers a...
Let’s say that you’re getting diesel therapy at o-dark-thirty. What are you getting and when are you getting it? A New Jersey contestant from the National Puzzlers’ League learns the meaning of these terms in this week’s...
A caller named Holly confesses that there’s a word that practically makes her break out in hives every time she hears it. Grant assures her she’s not alone in her aversion to the word—Holly, cover your eyes—moist. Grant and Martha...
Finally, just in time for holiday get-togethers, Grant and Martha provide some linguistic family therapy to solve a mother-daughter conflict over whether nummy is a legitimate term. Mom says it’s perfect for describing a delicious meal, but...
pop n.— «Mike Rehmus, editor of Model Engine Builder, a magazine published five times a year in Vallejo, Calif., said that the builders of miniature internal-combustion engines seemed to have in common a “satisfaction of making something...
therapism n. a culture or ideal of mental therapy, empathy, or sharing of feelings, especially as a cure. Editorial Note: This term was popularized, although probably not coined by, novelist Fay Weldon. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)