We’re continuing our look at some of the words of the year of 2008 with words related to automobiles.
Word nerd Ammon Shea quit his job as a furniture mover in New York City to spend an entire year reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary. The result, in addition to eyestrain, headaches, and skeptics’ puzzlement, was Shea’s new book...
Jack in Madison, Wisconsin, wondered in the half-awake hours whether fillet and flay share an origin. They don’t. Fillet, also pronounced like French filet, comes through Old French from Latin filum, “thread,” the source of filament. Flay is...
If someone calls you dibby, should you be flattered or insulted? You’d know if you were in college a century ago—it’s outdated college slang! Also, we are voluntold to play a word puzzle about Unknown Superheroes!
Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle about homophones, in this case, words that sound just like participles that have lost their final “g,” like button and buttin’. The first clue: “Picture Vladimir Putin trying to catch...
A California caller gets a clarification about when to use “a” and “an” if the next word starts with a vowel sound. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Articles for Words with Vowel Sounds” Hello...