If a lady is no better than she ought to be, her sexual morals may be in question. The saying, recently popularized by the BBC program Downton Abbey, is what’s known as a charientism, or a bit of sugar-coated snark. By the way, if you’d...
Grant reveals the surprising origin of the term lunatic fringe. This is part of a complete episode.
Howdy!
This week’s archive episode is one of our favorites, all about the language of love — or, if you prefer, the language of “less than three.” If you look sideways at
Grant interviews Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings about the grueling nature of TV quiz shows, the fine art of writing trivia questions, the special challenges of competing in European quiz contests, and how it feels to answer incorrectly.
A die-hard fan of television’s Mad Men is puzzled when Don calls Betty a “Main Line brat.” This is part of a complete episode.
Grant talks about the lingo of criminals from 1930s. Here are more examples from police reporter Ben Kendall’s 1931 Los Angeles Times article, “Underworld ‘Lingo’ Brought Up-to-Date.” This is part of a complete episode.