Scientists have named some recently discovered species of tree frogs after characters from Star Trek. Why? Because of the boops and trills and other sounds that these frogs make. And: naming your children with the virtues you hope they’ll...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski delivers a take-off quiz in which each clue references a word which, when the first letter is removed, leaves another word also suggested by the clue. In this case, the initial letters of the first clues will be either K or L...
Scott in Everett, Washington, has been trying to learn Klingon using the Goldlist Method, but he’s struggling to commit it to memory. What are some tips for learning another language, whether a conlang such as Klingon or one that evolved...
The die is cast has nothing to do with dye in water or a metal mold. The die is the singular of dice, and cast here means thrown, the older sense still found inside broadcast and podcast. Brian in Indianapolis ran into the phrase as the title of a...
grup n.— «Also known as yupster (yuppie + hipster), yindie (yuppie + indie), and alterna-yuppie. Our preferred term, grup, is taken from an episode of Star Trek (keep reading) in which Captain Kirk et al. land on a planet of children who...
spooty adj.— «I’ve seen losers on the net before, and I think I’m lookin at one right now. If you wanna flame B5 to your spooty-bottomed runny-nosed Trekkie friends, do it on a Trek group.» —“Re: Trekkers and Babylon 5″ by...

