Ten-year-old Alex, from Oceanside, California, wonders if a cat’s flicking tail inspired the expression telltale sign, meaning “an indicator.” The word is telltale, not its soundalike telltail. About 400 years ago, a telltale was a...
Why don’t we refer to prunes as dried plums? Prune and plum come from the same distant etymological roots and traveled into English via French and German respectively. The French still use prune for “plum.” Other foods that undergo...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski is dreaming up new plots for movies by changing one letter in an existing movie title. For example, if you change one vowel, what hilarious classic comedy becomes the tale of a rebellious, spiky-haired animal found in mosh...
What we’re reading: Crystal Wilkinson, a member of the Affrilachian Poets, is author of The Birds of Opulence, a quiet, lyrical novel about relationships between family members, and between humans and nature, about things said and unsaid with...
On our Facebook group, listeners are debating the pros and cons of adapting the British Harry Potter series for American audiences. Is it really necessary to change distinctly British terms like kippers, jumpers, and trainers to dessert, to kippers...
David in Livingston, Montana, heard a 1954 radio show in which Frank Sinatra used the phrase sweet and groovy, like a nine-cent movie. Was the word groovy really around in those days? Yes, by 1937, the term had filtered into the mainstream from the...