Episodes

  • TWTS: The wonky journey of "wonky"

    TWTS: The wonky journey of "wonky"
    Jun 12 2026
    There’s more than one way to be wonky, and not all of them are bad.
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    5 mins
  • TWTS: Are we canceling adverbs?

    TWTS: Are we canceling adverbs?
    Jun 5 2026
    Adverbs don’t always get a lot of love, captured powerfully in the writing tip “Abolish the adverbs.”
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    5 mins
  • TWTS: Scrimping, skimping, and the degrees of frugality

    TWTS: Scrimping, skimping, and the degrees of frugality
    May 29 2026
    We scrimp and we save, and we skimp and we still save, which makes one wonder whether scrimping is different from skimping
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    5 mins
  • TWTS: From fishmongers to warmongers - and warmongerers

    TWTS: From fishmongers to warmongers - and warmongerers
    May 22 2026
    Cheesemongers sell cheese, and gossipmongers usually start the gossip or spread it, rather than sell it.
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    5 mins
  • TWTS: The death of doornails

    TWTS: The death of doornails
    May 15 2026
    Many of us don’t talk about doornails very often, but sometimes we will when things are really, well, dead.
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    5 mins
  • TWTS: When "f" and "v" were sort of one

    TWTS: When "f" and "v" were sort of one
    May 8 2026
    If you know how the sound "f" worked in Old English, it suddenly isn’t mysterious why the "f" in "leaf" turns into a "v" in the plural form "leaves."
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    5 mins
  • TWTS: "Peak" felt fine until it was "peaked"

    TWTS: "Peak" felt fine until it was "peaked"
    May 1 2026
    5 mins
  • TWTS: Why no one is "gonna Pittsburgh"

    TWTS: Why no one is "gonna Pittsburgh"
    Apr 24 2026
    If I say I’m gonna do it, I don’t necessarily mean I’m headed out the door right now to do it.
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    5 mins