The Militant Grammarian

Our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, examines how man's best friend has influenced how we speak. This segment originally aired on March 24, 2020.

You may have told somebody they were "close, but no cigar" without knowing just why that phrase first gained popularity. Enter our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, to explain the origins of several old idioms.

From KFC to 3M, our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, brings along a quiz on businesses that use letters or initials for a name.

Our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, gives us a quiz regarding metonymy: the use of the name of one thing to represent something related to that thing. Think "the crown" used to represent the monarcy.

Today, we talk true vowels and our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, comes prepared with a quiz on the five letters our words can't do without. 

Our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, had some time on her hands, so her latest quiz is about words and phrases containing parts of the human body.

Our Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds, is back for more socially-distanced word games. This time she quizzes us about palindromes.

In another edition of the socially-distanced Militant Grammarian, Katherine Shurlds is back with a quiz focused on "red" words.