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Episode 1612

Fair Dinkum

A magnificent new book celebrates the richness and diversity of 450 years of written and spoken English in what is now the United States. It’s called The People’s Tongue, and it’s a sumptuous collection of essays, letters, poems...

What Are the Odds?

A retired astronomer in Tucson, Arizona, is curious about the expression What are the odds? The idea of odds meaning “the likelihood of something occurring,” goes back to the idea of odds and evens and something odd being the thing...

Centricity Word Game

Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a game called “Centricity”, emphasis on the “city.” For example, “Mickey ate all the fruit, leaving Minneapolis.” And as George H.W. Bush said to George W. Bush, “You can be...

Nuremberg defense

Nuremberg defense  n.— «“I was only following orders.” It’s perhaps the most infamous explanation offered by military members accused of crimes, invoked by defendants from Nazi Germany to Abu Ghraib. Now, the so-called Nuremberg...

shoppertainment

shoppertainment  n.— «Mills even coined a term for their new mega-malls that eventually spread across 21 states: “shoppertainment.” Shoppers were confronted by massive cinemas, indoor sports and a broad range of eating options...

Arizona pinstriping

Arizona pinstriping  n.— «I’m not out there to abuse it, but paint is optional here in Tucson due to Arizona pinstriping. So why make it pretty when the next time out, the brush will stripe the hell out of it? Functional is good...