We spoke with a listener about the German word querfeldein, or literally “diagonally into the field,” which he used to describe an informal route he and his wife had taken while out for a walk. Many other listeners chimed in with proposed...
The words flet and dray (or drey,) refer to types of squirrel’s nests. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Flet and Dray” I learned this week that a flet is sort of the same thing as a dray. A flet, F-L-E-T, and a dray, D-R-A-Y. Flet...
Why call it a doggy bag when it’s really for your husband? Grant and Martha talk about the language of leftovers and why we eat beef and not cow. And how old is the typical public-library patron? Plus, in Afghanistan, proverbs are part of everyday...
This week, a special treat: NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz stops by with a quiz about slang and anagrams.
Janie in Gainesville, Florida, remembers her grandmother Othella Mae Hatfield’s Appalachian version of an old anti-wishing proverb: “Wish in one hand and tacky in the other, and tell me which one gets full first.” Tacky here is probably a family...
A electronic teenager repellent? An alarm clock that runs away from you to make you’ll wake up? Yep, it’s the Ig Nobel Prizes, those awards for academic research that first makes you laugh and then makes you think. Martha and Grant honor this year’s...