Shona in San Diego, California, is puzzling over why we don’t pronounce the w in the word two. The answer has to do with its etymological origins and the fact that spelling doesn’t change as quickly as pronunciation. This is part of a...
Olivia from Denver, Colorado, is musing about her use of the term good people, as in She’s good people. This phrase is what linguists call an extragrammatical idiom, meaning the phrase makes sense even though it’s not grammatically...
Grant shoots holes in a story that just won’t die that about “son of a gun” and babies born aboard sailing ships. Before you get started today, please go to to support the show. Podcast listeners like you will make the show possible in...
Why do we refer to small children as little shavers? This is part of a complete episode.
Amber in Mansfield, Texas, has a friend from London, England. After she moved to the States, the friend was surprised to find that when she’s conversing with strangers from the United States, they’ll drop in what Americans think of as...
Paul in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, has long been mystified by the title commander in chief. Why, he wonders, isn’t it commander and chief? The title commander in chief is a vestige of French military titles, specifically the construction en...