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Words of the Decade

Enough about the Word of the Year. How about the Word of the Decade? Bailout? Google? Martha and Grant discuss some candidates. Also in this episode, does speaking a different language make you feel different emotions? What did Don Draper on Mad Men...

Mind Your P’s and Q’s

Where’d we get the expression “mind your p’s and q’s”? A Barcelona native wants help understanding exactly what it means, and shares a few other English idioms that caught her up short. This is part of a complete...

Books for Learning Latin

It’s never too late to start learning Latin, a language that will deepen your understanding and appreciation of English. Martha offers tips on how to begin: Getting Started with Latin, by William E. Linney, and Virent Ova! Viret Perna! (Green...

dadliness

dadliness  n.— «Gradually, through coping with Florida’s tantrums and his fellow fathers’ foibles, he acquires an understanding of what “dadliness” (as he calls it) is all about. And in the process, he develops a deeper...

adiabaticity

adiabaticity  n.— «U.S. and French scientists say they’ve developed a new understanding of a process called adiabaticity that’s used to control atoms in magnetic resonance. Adiabatic processes are what physicists and engineers use to...

repertory grid

repertory grid  n.— «Professor Canter’s group conducted a series of interviews with 49 terrorists—people convicted of bombing and killings. The work was done outside of the UK because of the refusal of the British authorities to facilitate...