The new book Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution that Made China Modern (Bookshop|Amazon) is a fascinating history about the colorful characters who attempted to reinvent the complicated Chinese script to adapt it for use with modern...
It’s all about terms of endearment: If your loved one is far away for a long time, you’re probably tired of just saying “I miss you” over and over. For variety’s sake, there are some creative alternatives to that phrase...
Our Quiz Master John Chaneski leads us on a puzzle hunt, starting in a world capital that’s a homophone for a type of music or food. (Hint: This Asian capital hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics.) This is part of a complete episode.
A listener from Texas heard an NPR report from Asia in which an interpreter translated a speaker’s words into English as “a whole new ball game.” He wants to know if that’s a literal translation from an Asian language, and if...
mad-mugging n.— Note: Same as mean-mugging. «Mao, a Southeast Asian gang member, apparently believed somebody at the Chevron station at Hammer Lane and Holman Road “mad-mugged” him, a street term used to describe challenging...
banyan model n.— «He proposes that work groups whose members are widely dispersed but need to have high levels of coordination—say, a computer security team protecting a global bank—do not have to assemble everyone in one room to reap the...