Mitch in Florida, a video editor, wanted a fancy, billable-sounding verb for extracting video from a computer — the opposite of ingesting it into a system. Listener suggestions ranged from cull, evict, extirpate, expunge, expede, disassemble...
The mealtime admonition “someone has to finish this up so the sun shines tomorrow” comes from a German saying that goes back at least 150 years. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “So the Sun Shines Tomorrow” Hello, you...
What’s the best term for an ex-wife’s new husband? A caller in Chico, California, is friendly with both his ex-wife and her new love, and wonders if there’s a more civil term than floozy. Other options: the second shift, and...
A Washington, D.C., caller says her dad would console her with the saying “Don’t worry, it will be better before you’re married.” Which is really less a heartfelt consolation than it is a better way to say, get over it. The...
In northern Sweden, the word yes is widely communicated by a sound that’s reminiscent of someone sucking through a straw. It’s called the pulmonic ingressive. Linguist Robert Eklund calls this a neglected universal, meaning that...
The father of one of Martha’s friends had all sorts lots of funny sayings, like the one he’d use during a lull in a conversation: “Do you live around here or do you ride a bicycle?” He’d also respond to, “Are you...