Light-hearted conversation with callers from all over about new words, old sayings, slang, family ex
Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks strol
Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms descr
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulw
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actua
What’s it like to hike the Pacific Crest Trail all the way from Mexico to Canada? You’ll end up with
Astronauts returning from space say they experience what's called the overview effect, a new underst
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19
Some TV commercials launch catchphrases that stick around long after the original ads. The exclamati
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey t
A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous studen
We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book a
What happens in a classroom of refugee and immigrant youngsters learning English? Their fresh approa
When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your
An ornithologist says there’s a growing movement to change the name of a pink-footed bird currently
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited
There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes
A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card.
