powner n.— «On the canine crowded street of the East Village, my wife and I play a little game we like to call “powner”–our semantical mash up of the words “pet and owner” Who ever sights a human walking their canine doppleganger...
Proverbs pack great truths into a few well-chosen words, no matter which language you speak. Check out this one from Belize: “Don’t call the alligator a big-mouth till you have crossed the river.” And this truism from Zanzibar:...
Pickle, baboon, cupcake, snorkel, pumpkin, Kalamazoo—let’s face it, some words are just plain funny. But what makes some words funnier than others? Martha and Grant consider this question with an assist from Neil Simon’s play (and movie)...
Favorite online reading. If the subjunctive tense were to disappear from English, would anybody care? And just in time for this romantic weekend, a caller discovers the meaning of…lurve. That’s L-U-R-V-E.
A husband and wife have a long-running dispute over whether the word scissors is singular or plural. Is it a scissors or a pair of scissors? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Scissors vs. A Pair of Scissors” Hello, you...
Swarthy doesn’t mean hairy. Christian from Austin, Texas, used the phrase swarthy-eyed dog, and his wife, an English teacher, insisted the word meant hairy. It actually describes someone who is dark-complected, with dark skin and dark hair, the kind...