Sour Pickle (Rebroadcast) - 23 June 2025
You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it's too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway...
Straight and Narrow - 16 June 2025
English spelling is a hot mess, even for native speakers. But as a new book shows, would-be spelling reformers, including Benjamin Franklin and Theodo...
Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 9 June 2025
Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a simi...
The Other Shoe - 2 June 2025
So you think you can spell? Youngsters in modern spelling bees are expected to memorize a wide range of words, from chemical processes to names of rar...
Scooter Pooting (Rebroadcast) - 26 May 2025
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to de...
Bean Counting - 19 May 2025
In the 1920’s, Americans were warned of a new danger sweeping across the country. This menace that harmed people’s health, ruined minds, and threatene...
Gold Dance (Rebroadcast) - 12 May 20256
People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over th...
Honor Bright - 5 May 2025
A baby’s first word is often a cherished milestone, but some cultures pay more attention to other firsts, like a baby’s first laugh. A fascinating new...
By a Long Shot (Rebroadcast) - 28 April 2025
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We ...
Real Corker - 21 April 2025
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks...