Chris from San Diego, California, says he and fellow rock-climbers use the term chossy to describe rock that’s dangerously crumbly. It’s probably a corruption of the word chaos. To choss up means “to wreck.” This is part of a...
The highly specialized vocabulary of people who work outdoors, communicating with sled dogs, a word from the sport of rock-climbing, church key, browse line, smeuse, nitnoy, mommick, zawn, zwer, boom dog, and I think my pig is whistling.
A rock climber in Omaha, Nebraska, wonders about the term beta, which her fellow climbers use to refer to information about a particular route. It comes from the old practice of using Betamax video to record information about a climb. A good...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a fill-in-the-blank puzzle about famous hip-hop rhymes. For example, from Run DMC, there’s the verse: “I’m the king of rock / There is none higher / Sucker MC’s should call me _________.” This...
A rock or particle of debris out in space is called a meteoroid. If it enters the earth’s atmosphere, it’s a called meteor. So why is it called a meteorite when it falls to earth? This is part of a complete episode.
“What happens when you throw a yellow rock into a purple stream? It splashes.” (Ba-dump-bum.) Grant and Martha share this and other favorite riddles, some with deceptively obvious answers. This is part of a complete episode.