Youngsters want to know: What’s the difference between barely and nearly, and what’s so clean about a whistle, anyway? Plus, adults recount some misunderstandings from when they were knee-high to a grasshopper. Kids do come up with some...
Tommy in Lexington, Kentucky, recalls that when he was a youngster, a sightseeing trip to Washington, D.C., led to a hilarious misunderstanding about exactly what might be on offer at the National Mall. This is part of a complete episode.
If you like your tea barefoot, it doesn’t mean you’re kicking your shoes off. It means you’re drinking it without milk or sugar. Similarly, barefoot bread is made without shortening, lard, or eggs, and barefoot dumplings are made...
Michelle calls from the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania to ask about it’s been a minute meaning “It’s been a while.” Why would we use a phrase that usually means “sixty seconds” for a period of time that might...
Barry Lopez was the author of Arctic Dreams (Bookshop|Amazon),winner of the National Book Award, and the editor, along with his wife Debra Gwartney, of Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape (Bookshop|Amazon). In the introduction to his...
Alex in Bishop, California, works with an environmental nonprofit that partners with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. When his team goes out into the field for several days on assignment, they refer to that stretch of time as a...