Michelle, a middle school teacher in Atlanta, Georgia, says her students believe they’ve invented a new word for “an injury received from a fist bump or dap.” They say they created fistumba as a combination of fist and Zumba, the popular dance exercise. They’re wondering how to improve their chances of spreading this new word, and they’ve been discussing the children’s book Frindle, by Andrew Clements, which is about inventing and trying to popularize a new term. This is part of a complete episode.
Space Cadet (episode #1514) 12/24/2018: 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... [more]
Howling Fantods (episode #1513) 12/17/2018: Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing drug-laced dollar bills,... [more]
Cootie Shot (episode #1510) 12/10/2018: Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind! A new book of writing advice says a good sentence "imposes a logic on the world's weirdness"... [more]
Bottled Sunshine (episode #1512) 11/19/2018: If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means "an... [more]- Care Package (episode #1511) 11/12/2018: Sending someone a care package shows you care, of course. But the first care packages were boxes of food and personal items for survivors of... [more]
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