There’s an English word for “sleep during daytime”: nap. But is there a word for “a period of nighttime wakefulness,” aside from spelling nap backwards as pan? The French have a lovely word for this state, dorveille, a...
When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term for “straw.” And: What’s the story...
Claire from Wilmington, North Carolina, wants to know the origin of the phrase “sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.” She heard a story she heard about the saying having to tightening ropes that support mattresses, which is not...
For a good time, google wake vs. awaken. Perhaps the most vexing verb in English, the term for waking up still puzzles the experts. This is part of a complete episode.
The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What’s the best way to use a thesaurus? DON’T —...
How early do you have to wake up to see what one listener calls the crack of chicken? It seems to be a twist on the term crack of dawn. Other terms for this early-morning time are o’dark thirty and the scratch of dawn. This is part of a...