PODCASTS

Eric was one of the founding members of The Underscore, a podcasting project explaining quirks of American culture. 

RUCKUS and how slang spreads

How does slang spread? And can the average person set out to make a term go viral? Oh, and we have a word in mind …

We spoke with a quartet of word experts and dig through the history of how exactly language moves from the street to Twitter and a lot of unexpected places in between (including the dictionary).

500 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES AND COUNTING

There’s Jeb Bush, Limberbutt McCubbins and Michael Castillejos. It’s not the beginning of a walks-into-a-bar joke, though it surely could be. They’re three of the more than 500 candidates who’ve filed FEC Form No. 2, which is the first official step to run for president. You likely know about Bush, McCubbins isn’t exactly eligible and Castillejos has some big plans.

MARRYING OFF YOUR FRIENDS

An open-door philosophy, a SEO battle and a guerrilla wedding at a New York City landmark: Welcome to the crazy world of online ordination, where you can start a church, then make money by enabling people to officiate their friends’ weddings. And at a time in American life when the role of religion is becoming more malleable and individualized by the day, it’s (almost) all legal.