In 15th and 16th century Scotland, in the highest courts of the land, you'd find esteemed poets hurling insults at... more

There's so much more to say about Singlish after last episode that we're saying some more of it this episode.... more

"If you grow up being told that one of your first languages, Singlish, is actually a bad version of an... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, give your brain a break by temporarily supplanting your interior monologue... more

I can scarce believe that I've made 200 episodes of this show, but here we are! To celebrate, here is... more

Next episode is the 200th, therefore this is the 199th. I raid the 66 pages of ideas for episodes I... more

Since 2019, Marwan Kaabour has been collecting Arabic slang words used by and about queer people, first for the online... more

At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, behind the spectacle of kids vying to be champion spellers, a whole lot of... more

I went to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, to marvel at kids spelling words I had mostly never even... more

Cain's Jawbone, a murder mystery cryptic puzzle novella in the form of 100 pages presented in the wrong order, has... more