Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Today's word, pan , takes us back to the days of the gold rush in California. On January twenty-fourth, eighteen forty-eight, a man named James Wilson Marshall discovered gold in the terri...

17 April 2010 Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. A listener from Venezuela sent us a question about the meaning of the expression mayday. He wrote that he often hears this expression in movies. Mayday is an emergency code w...

10 April 2010 Now, the Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. (MUSIC) Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. These are the living speech of a people. And a story can be told about each of them. The white...

By Shelley Gollust 2010-4-3 Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Almost all American cities have nicknames. They help establish a city's identity. They can also spread unity and pride among its citizens. Two east coast cities...

By Jill Moss 2010-3-27 Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Some unusual words describe how a person spends his or her time. For example, someone who likes to spend a lot of time sitting or lying down while watching televisio...

By Shelley Gollust 2010-3-20 Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Many American cities have interesting nicknames. Nicknames can help establish the identity of a city. They can also spread pride among its citizens. But nickna...

13 March 2010 Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Many cities have interesting nicknames. Nicknames can help establish the identity of a city. They can also spread pride among its citizens. New Orleans, Louisiana probably ha...

By Marilyn Rice Christiano 2010-2-20 Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Every week at this time, the Voice of America tells about popular words and expressions used in the United States. Some expressions have made a jump fr...

By VOA 2010-1-16 Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. (MUSIC) Every week at this time we tell the story of words and expressions used in American English. Some of them are old. Some are new. Together, they form the living sp...

12 December 2009 Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. (MUSIC) Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are so many expressions that use the word cold . For centuries, the b...