We take our voices for granted, but it’s truly miraculous that we communicate complex thoughts simply by moving our mouths while exhaling. A fascinating new book reveals the science, history, and linguistics involved in human speech. And...
The handy German neologism Impfneid literally means “vaccine envy.” It’s one of many German words coined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neid in German means “envy” and Impf, meaning “vaccine,” derives from...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski donated blood the other day, which inspired this week’s puzzle based on the four blood types, A, B, O, and AB. Each clue involves a pair of words, and the challenge is to donate one of those four blood types to one word...
People who are pigeon-toed walk with their toes pointed inward, also referred to as in-toe walking. Walking with toes pointed out is called out-toe walking, or walking duck-footed. This is part of a complete episode.
The art project called “Social Distancing, Haiku, and You,” includes a poem that articulates gratitude to health-care workers on the front lines of the global pandemic. This is part of a complete episode.
Rebecca in Austin, Texas, wonders why the terms cold sore and fever blister describe pretty much the same thing. Also, why do we say we have a cold, but we have the flu? The word flu comes from the Italian word for influence, influenza, and is a...