Kara in Charlotte, North Carolina, was shopping in New Brunswick, Canada, hoping to find a warm hat. She asked for a toboggan, but the store clerk was incredulous. Depending on where you’re from toboggan can mean either “a long, knitted...
To be forswunk means to be totally worn out from overwork. It’s from forswink, meaning to exhaust by labor. This is part of a complete episode.
To be tuckered out, or tired, is thought to derive from the image of a starved quadruped that’s so skinny and worn out that it has a “tucked” appearance just behind the ribs. It may have been influenced by an older verb tuck...
You’re in a business meeting. Is it bad manners to take out your phone to send or read a text? A new study suggests that how you feel about mid-meeting texting differs depending on your age and sex. Grant and Martha offer book recommendations...
Andrew Huang of Songs To Wear Pants To has met his listeners’ challenge and written a rap song without the letter “E.” This is part of a complete episode.
When a jacket’s been on the hanger too long, the shoulders get punched out, meaning they become distended. The same principle is behind the term butt-sprung, which describes a skirt that’s distended by the wearer, and now applies to...