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Episode 1412

Buckle Down

It’s time for book recommendations! Martha’s enjoying an armchair tour of important places in the history of our language, and Grant recommends relaxing with books that make great reading for both children and adults. Plus, are you the...

Closeteering

An ailurophile from Dallas, Texas, wrote us to say her cat has a hobby of poking around in the closet and finding hidden nooks to nap in, or as she calls it, closeteering. That’s also a great term for generally digging around in the closet for...

A Hole to China (episode # 1368)

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait–is that right? Or would it be “who ya gonna call”? “Whom” may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you called an elitist. It’s...

Digging to China

The idea of digging a hole to China surfaces as early as 1872 in a Chamber’s Journal fiction piece about beavers and engineers. Unfortunately, digging from almost anywhere in the United States would lead you to open water on the other end. To...

Beauty of “Cellar Door”

It’s been said that the most beautiful combination of words in English is cellar door. But why? After this caller raised the question, Grant did even more digging on the topic. The result: He wrote an article about it that appeared in the New...

detectorist

detectorist  n.— «Just because you’ve got a metal detector doesn’t entitle you to charge unbidden onto other people’s property, Alan cautions. Detectorists must obtain permission to go onto private turf and must register with public lands...