Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been reading the novels of author Stephen King’s annoying doppelganger, Stephen Kong, whose titles are like those of King’s, with the exception of one letter. For example, Kong’s first novel recalls the...
Stunt performers in movies have their own jargon for talking about their dangerous work. In New York City, the slang term brick means “cold,” and dumb brick means “really cold.” Plus: the East and Central African tradition...
In a conversation with novelist Ann Patchett, writer Elizabeth McCracken makes a pithy observation about the difference between a novel and a short story. This is part of a complete episode.
What happens when you de-pluralize a book title? As members of our Facebook group discovered, if you make the plurals in the name of a book singular, you can come up with some interesting plot lines. For example, John Steinbeck’s The...
We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft project, and a city council meeting. • Instead of reversing...
A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referred to a printing device used to produce lots of identical copies. • The link between tiny mythical creatures called trolls and modern-day...