To give someone a wide berth means to provide ample room. This phrase is nautical in origin, where it means “the distance ships give each other to avoid crashing.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “To Give a Wide...
How wide are the gaps between your teeth? Wide enough to “eat corn on the cob through a picket fence?” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Eating Corn through a Picket Fence” Kat emailed us and called us about...
What do your pronouns say about your own psychological makeup? If you use the word I a lot, does it mean you’re a leader . . . or a follower? A surprising study suggests that people of lower status in a group tend to use I the most. Also, a...
Those soft felt hats that folks like the man on the Quaker oatmeal box wear? They’re called wide-awakes. The etymology of this term is actually a pun—a reference to the fact that they’re made from smooth material that has no nap, a soft, fuzzy...
Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a bi-coastal quiz about two-word phrases connecting the letters NY and CA. For example, the man in black is JohnNY CAsh. Keep your eyes wide open for the clues! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bi...
This week: whether cotton-pickin’ is racist, unintentionally funny headlines, whether enormity can simply mean “enormous,” how a person can be “such a pill,” and pandiculation. “It’s good stuff, Maynard...