A Riotous Good Time with Ellen Jovin of the G...

1177. This week, we look at behind-the-scenes of being a curator at Harvard's Houghton Library with John Overholt. We look at why 18th-century paper is surprisingly tough, how John managed the high-stakes transport of a George Washington book, and why curators actually prefer bar ...  Show more

1176. This week, we look at mind-bending words, including "semordnilap" (which spells "palindromes" backwards), "pentasyllabic" (which has five syllables), and "hyphenated" (which is not hyphenated). Then, we tackle how to use "me" and "myself" (with an aside for "hisself," "mese ...  Show more

We're joined this week by Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of her show Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.Transcript availabl ...  Show more

Cleft Sentences are an area of English grammar that is used in daily conversation, but isn't often taught. I don't know many things, but what I am knowledgable about is English! (There's an example!)In this episode, I first explain two of these grammar patterns that you can follo ...  Show more

Yesterday I go to the pizza place down the block and I find out they have new owners. And I look behind the counter and they have all of these weird kinds of pizza. They even have one with pineapple and tuna. I don’t think that’s really pizza. Hey, are you wondering why my story ...  Show more

(VIDEO PODCAST AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE) This week, Alix sits down to do something she’s never done before — a full “What Would Alix Do?” episode. She answers your questions ranging from poons splitting open to obsessive calorie counting. She even shares the story of her boyfriend no ...  Show more