Cody, who lives in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, wonders: If someone is hungry, you feed them, but is there a single word for what you do for someone who’s thirsty? In other words, eat is to feed as drink is to what? A single word...
Fret can work transitively in parts of the American South, as in Don’t fret that child, meaning don’t bother or worry them. Angela, originally from North Carolina, asked about the usage at a Dallas event after hearing forms such as Don’t fret him...
A listener in Fargo, North Dakota, ask which is correct: graduated from high school or graduated high school? Increasingly, the former is falling by the wayside. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Graduate School vs. Graduate...
The word podcasting is commonly used to refer to making podcasts, but it’s also used by some as the verb for listening to, downloading, or listening to podcasts. The language around podcasts has always been tricky since the format was released...
Even though blogs can’t read and newspapers can’t speak, it’s totally appropriate to write “the blog reads,” or “the newspaper says.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The Blog...
Scratch an itch is standard, and it’s much more widely accepted than using itch transitively, as in itch my back. Robin in Paris, Virginia, has a movie-night wager riding on the question because his wife insists that the hand does the scratching and...