Creative communication in a noisy world! Writing a clever 140-character tweet isn’t easy. But you know what’s even more impressive? Working all 26 letters of the alphabet into just one sentence! The term for that type of sentence is...
Jennifer from Traverse City, Michigan, asks about using reef to mean applying a lot of force or torque, as in reefing on a stuck window or stubborn jar. This regional verb likely comes from the sailing use of reef, to reduce a sail by taking in part...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a word game about words and phrases that involve furniture or parts of a house. For example, if you want to see your lover but you only have two hours, that’s a tight window of opportunity. And if you invest in, say...
Writers will appreciate this quotation from Burton Roscoe: “What no wife of a writer can understand is that a writer is working when he’s staring out of a window.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Burton...
Counciltucky n.— «I can walk to my Office window and see King’s district, Council Bluffs. People on my side of the River refer to it as “Counciltucky.” I don’t think the town is particularly racist, just dumb.» —“Steve...
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.