To transmit information during wartime, various industries used to encode their messages letter by letter with an elaborate system–a primitive version of today’s digital encryption. Grant breaks down some of those secret codes, and...
An opera singer from Ontario, Canada, just finished a run of La Faniculla del West with the Virginia Opera. His character is put to death by hanging. Is it correct to say his character was hanged? Or was his character hung? This is part of a...
A young woman wants a family-friendly way to describe a statement that’s fraudulent or bogus, but all the words she can think of sound old-fashioned. Is there a better term than malarkey, poppycock, or rubbish? Also, listeners step up to help...
Regarding suffering caused by others, singer Bob Marley had this to say: “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” This is part of a complete episode.
Vegas throat n.— «The singer has had to cancel several shows in recent weeks because of bronchitis. Her publicist says the condition was brought on by the dry air in the desert, along with all the heavy air conditioning in the hotels and...
You’ve heard this happen: A singer belts out a song, and then afterward, she starts talking and you’re startled to hear what sounds like a completely different accent. What is it about singing that seems to change some people’s...