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Episode 1615

Takes the Cake

What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely depends on where you’re from. And: Martha’s visit to an Alaskan reindeer ranch reveals why you...

Yampy as a Box of Frogs

Here’s a handy word from the west midlands of England: yampy, meaning “foolish” or “daft.” It may be adapted from the Scots word yamp, meaning “noisy” or “talkative,” or from yamph, “to...

hit a number

hit a number  v. phr.— «Inserra knows how intense the pressure to inflate values can get. Three years ago, he found himself battling one of his largest clients. The bank’s senior vice president in charge of mortgage lending tried to get...

alligator arms

alligator arms  n.pl.— «Some of the best players in the NBA have developed “alligator arms”— sports parlance for not extending the arms—under the pressure of big free throws.» —“The fine art of shooting free...

lifestyle disease

lifestyle disease  n.— «Such abundance has helped lay the foundation for coronary artery disease, stroke, high blood pressure, arthritis, adult-onset diabetes, obesity and several kinds of cancer. These diseases, once called degenerative...

flipping

flipping  n.— «Those wetlands that remained were often tracts of infertile, troublesome land such as the West Coast pakihi swamps. Yet today even these are under pressure. Mechanical diggers are now used to smash the buried, impervious...