So my 8-year-old nephew hit me with this riddle last Tuesday: “Uncle, what starts with N and ends with G?” I’m sitting there feeling pretty confident. I mean, I’ve got a degree in English and write for a living. Easy question, right? I start rattling off answers – “Nursing! Napping! Nabbing!” – and this kid … Read more

Mrs. Rodriguez was my first Spanish teacher back in high school. She spent literally an entire week making us practice the letter J. Just J. Nothing else. I remember thinking this was such a waste of time because how hard could one letter be? Spoiler alert: I was completely wrong and she was right. That … Read more

Last Thursday night, I’m sitting there playing Scrabble with my cousin Sarah, and she drops “axiom” on a triple word score. I challenged it because honestly? I thought she made it up. Turns out axiom’s a real word and I lost 15 points for challenging. But that whole embarrassing situation got me wondering – how … Read more