We have collective nouns for animals, like “a gaggle of geese,” “a pride of lions,” and “an exaltation of larks.” So why not collective nouns for plants? How about a “greasing of palms,” or a...
Caitlin from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, grew up calling the children’s message-passing game Whisper Down the Lane, but classmates knew it as Whisper Down the Alley, Telephone, or Broken Telephone. No firm U.S. regional boundary is known, although...
A man who takes daily walks in the woods of upstate New York wants a word for the whooshing of the pines high above their heads. The hosts suggest the Latin-based word susurration, although they might also have suggested soughing. This is part of a...