We look at the linguistic difference between lying and misleading, and then because people often lie with numbers, we look at the difference between “percent” and “percentage” and how to use them.

Prodded by Bruce Willis’s family’s announcement that he is leaving acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, we revisited language disorders, and the kinds of things we can learn from them.

Why Tired People Talk About Being ‘Out of Spoons.’ Why Nouns Are More Complicated Than You May Think.

Irish influences on Australian. What makes “NASA” different from “FBI.”

Have you ever wondered why it’s called the “Oxford comma” and who invented it?

Is “Materiel” Just a Fancy Pronunciation of “Material’? Are Binomials the Same Across Languages?

“Sticks and stones.” “Bride and groom.” “Heads or tails.” Some word pairs almost always appear in a specific order, and linguists have been investigating why for decades. Plus, after last week’s segment about square meals, a listener asked why it’s uncool

The idea of a square meal goes back to the 1800s, but the word “square” itself has a longer history. Admit it! You don’t know how to use curly braces.

How the “Witch of Wall Street” relates to the word “commiserate.” Plus, the interesting origin of “influenza” and other disease names.