The Library of Congress is archiving the entire content of Twitter. Grant explains why that’s a gold mine for language researchers like David Bamman at Tufts University. You can see some of the results Bamman’s compiled at Lexicalist.com. This is...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a word puzzle called “Novel Novels,” in which he gives clues to the names of novels similar to familiar ones, except for one letter. Try this one: “This offbeat novel is based on an incident concerning a nudist club and an...
Is that snazzy new car adorbs or bobo? Grant talks about adorbs, bobo, and a few other slang terms collected by Professor Connie Eble of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Adorbs vs...
bike leg n.— «Casati, like many other bike riding University of Montana students and faculty members, has gotten into the habit of rolling up a pant leg—or two—in order to keep it from catching in the bike chain. […] This fashion statement, known...
munch n.— «They directed me to a monthly BDSM get-together known as a Munch. You might be expecting people in leather harnesses and nipple clamps, but not tonight. It was all plain clothes, plainer food and surprisingly plain people.» —“Thud or...
q school n.— «After graduating from Yale, Lee spent the next two years playing on the Futures Tour—the equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues. Lee was then invited this past winter to enter qualifying school—or “Q School” as it is known among...