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Straight and Narrow - 16 June 2025
English spelling is a hot mess, even for native speakers. But as a new book shows, would-be spelling reformers, including Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, eventually just gave up. Also, what…
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 9 June 2025
Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi. Shak…
Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago
The Other Shoe - 2 June 2025
So you think you can spell? Youngsters in modern spelling bees are expected to memorize a wide range of words, from chemical processes to names of rare animals. Also: In many languages, the word for …
Published on 5 months ago
Scooter Pooting (Rebroadcast) - 26 May 2025
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a lingui…
Published on 5 months, 1 week ago
Bean Counting - 19 May 2025
In the 1920’s, Americans were warned of a new danger sweeping across the country. This menace that harmed people’s health, ruined minds, and threatened marriages. The culprit? The national obsession …
Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Gold Dance (Rebroadcast) - 12 May 20256
People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over them. And gold dance? That's what you do if you tur…
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
Honor Bright - 5 May 2025
A baby’s first word is often a cherished milestone, but some cultures pay more attention to other firsts, like a baby’s first laugh. A fascinating new book by a linguist examines language at the begi…
Published on 5 months, 4 weeks ago
By a Long Shot (Rebroadcast) - 28 April 2025
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words ar…
Published on 6 months ago
Real Corker - 21 April 2025
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks and jaw-dropping views. And: a musician who rode…
Published on 6 months, 1 week ago
When Pigs Fly (Rebroadcast) - 14 April 2025
Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. Plus, the origin story of the name William, and why it’s Guillermo in Spanish. And a five-ye…
Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago