The books we love as children may influence our careers more than we realize. As a child, Martha was fascinated with stories of cracking codes, and Grant loved books with glossaries–not that far from the kind of work they do today. A caller...
In observance of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, copies of his First Folio will be touring all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, for the public to see. It seems fitting, considering what D.H. Lawrence wrote about the Bard: “When...
Dude! We’re used to hearing the word “dude” applied to guys. But increasingly, young women use the word “dude” to address each other. Grant and Martha talk about linguistic research about the meaning and uses of...
Thunder and lightning! It's another email newsletter from "A Way with Words," where we put the "recess" in "recession." In our latest broadcast we talked about "fankle," baby platypuses (as they say at...
blood and thunder n.— «We hear about the horrors of fishnet burn, a fishscale pattern some skaters get when they fall down on the track while wearing fishnet stockings. I’ve also heard about a practice drill called “blood and...
hail damage n.— «Thighs without dimples or craters. Thighs noticeably absent of the spongelike appearance commonly referred to as hail damage or cottage cheese. Thighs that don’t thunder or jiggle.» —“Dare to Believe…Products...