In an earlier episode, we discussed linguistic false friends, those words in foreign languages that look like familiar English words, but mean something quite different. Martha reads an email response from a listener who learned the hard way that in...
Hi, language lovers! Happy March 4, and Happy National Grammar Day! (Get it? “March forth” and syntactically sin no more?) Join the revelry here: Just don’t say we didn’t warn you about the earworm from that grammar song...
Howdy from your fellow word-wranglers, Martha and Grant! A huge thank-you to all of you who've contributed to our independently produced show in recent weeks--whether it be with a contribution of your phone calls, your emails...
We all misspeak from time to time, but how about when we mangle words on purpose? Do you ever say fambly instead of family, perazackly for exactly, or coinkydink for coincidence? When Grant recently wrote a newspaper column about saying things wrong...
brown out v. phr.— «The Redwood City Fire Department can stave off “browning out” one engine by cutting one fire firefighter per truck on all companies—a move that significantly limits the ability to respond to emergencies but will...
tire buster n.— «Another thing that we’ve done is we’ve implemented emergency response teams and these guys are able to go out within 24 hours and address any hole that are sometimes referred to as “tire busters,” those holes...
