“Don’t be frontin’!” A Texas college student is curious about the origin of fronting, and learns that it goes back several decades to the world of petty criminals. This is part of a complete episode.
A New Zealander who relocated to Texas wonders why she grew up saying Mum, but people in the United States say Mom. This is part of a complete episode.
Everybody has a nickname, and there’s usually a story to go with it. Martha and Grant reveal their own nicknames and the stories behind them. Also, is the expression “heebie-jeebies” anti-Semitic? And is there a better word than...
A Texas listener says her infant daughter is soothed by white noise. She’s curious as to why it’s called white noise instead of gray noise. This is part of a complete episode.
Ask a Roman! A theater student from Texas is having an argument with a friend about the word vomitorium. He says that in ancient Rome, a vomitorium was a room where revelers went to purge after overindulging at the banquet table. True? This is part...
There’s a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time—feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, “What the heck does that mean?” and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just...