There’s a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time—feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, “What the heck does that mean?” and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just...
A recent college graduate from Portland, Oregon, calls to ask about a term popular on her campus. She and her classmates use sketchy to mean “creepy, shady, possibly dangerous,” as in “a sketchy part of town” or “that...
In San Diego, a man says increasingly he hears the phrase down the pike at work but suspects it was originally down the pipe. This is part of a complete episode.
Martha discusses another word she happily tripped over in the dictionary: spanghew. This is part of a complete episode.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski tries to stump the hosts with a puzzle called Cryptic Crosswords. How about this one: “Do-re-mi-fa follower + sneaker feature = comfort.” This is part of a complete episode.
Why are cave explorers called spelunkers? How do you pronounce the word? A naturalist at Mystery Cave in Minnesota wants to know and in return she tells us how to tell a stalactite from a stalagmite. This is part of a complete episode.