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Fiddlesticks

The exclamation Fiddlesticks!, meaning “a trifle” or “something insignificant or absurd,” goes back to the time of Shakespeare. It endures in part because it’s fun to say. This is part of a complete episode.

Pure-T Mommicked

Lori from Swansboro, North Carolina, wonders about pure-T mommicked, which in many parts of the South and South Midlands means “confused.” Its sense of “harrass, tease, impose upon” is particularly common in North Carolina...

Voracious Reader

Is it a good thing to be a voracious reader? We think so. Just take Shakespeare’s notion of the replenished intellect in Love’s Labour’s Lost. This is part of a complete episode.

Backward Journey Lithe

It’s time for a round of Name that Tune! What familiar song, translated into Shakespearean English, begins “Oh, proud left foot that ventures quick within, then soon upon a backward journey lithe”? There’s much more to these...

Verbing Nouns

Is it okay to make a verb out of a noun? Yes! It’s estimated that twenty percent of English verbs started as nouns. Just think of the head-to-toe mnemonic: you can head off a problem, face a situation, nose around, shoulder responsibility...