Jolly on the spot is a variant of Johnny on the spot, though the former is much less common. Both phrases refer to someone who’s right there when you need them and always ready to help. Older still is Charlie on the spot, used as early as 1805. The...
If you’re ever near a sundial, step closer and look for a message. Many sundials bear haunting, poetic inscriptions about the brevity of life. Plus, language development in toddlers: why and how little ones pick up the exclamation Uh-oh! And a new...
A writer stumbles upon a tiny, motionless creature on a country road and, against all good advice, takes it home. The resulting memoir, Raising Hare, is a lovely meditation on nature and our relationship to it. And: have you ever invented a fake...
For this week’s puzzle, Quiz Guy John Chaneski asks you to move the final letter of one word to the beginning to get a new word. For example, in the case of the word earth, the H circles around to become heart. Given those parameters, try figuring...
Claire from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, shares a phrase dear to her late friend. Her friend was known for saying since Christ left Philadelphia, meaning “a very long time ago.” This expression fits a well-worn pattern of comic hyperbole using...
Tom from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, notices something odd while doing a tick check after a walk in the woods: Both tick and check can mean “a checkmark,” making the compound a kind of accidental synonym sandwich. The linguistic term for a word...
