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Bunny Trails: A Word History Podcast

Dec 29, 2021

What happens when we, as speakers of a language, just decide to misquote a phrase until it takes on a life of its own? You get something like "Gild the Lily". Hear Shauna swoon over Heath Ledger in a Knight's Tale while Dan treks through Oscar Wilde shade, bad technicolor movies, and puppy-sized elephants to tell this...


Dec 22, 2021

How long can a chicken live without its head? Despite internet stories to the contrary, running around like a headless chicken doesn't come from chickens, nor does it come from a literal removal of the head. You can get the real story on this week's #BunnyTrails.
Bonus: Procrastination tips and...


Dec 15, 2021

Shauna and Dan talk about the ancient phrase, never look a gift horse in the mouth. What would $200,000 in 1912 be worth today? Is it true you can tell the age of a horse by looking at its teeth?  What is the best ice cream flavor? Listen now, because we have answers to one of those questions on this...


Dec 8, 2021

Shauna and Dan take a cool drink of gourd water this week as they explore the phrase Cool as a Cucumber. We learn Dan abhors cucumbers unless they've been drowned in vinegar and he dislikes some of the previous words for cucumbers. It seems some old-timey folks disliked them, too. Bonus discussion: is cereal a...


Dec 1, 2021

This week Shauna and Dan look into the phrase, Right Up My Street, and its counterpart, Right Up My Alley. Plus, a bonus look into the origin story of Sob Sister, an early 20th Century term for women reporters. #BunnyTrails

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