Society & Culture

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the language of post-modernism.

Kate Clinton. She's a stand-up comedian whose routines focus on sexual politics.

Fresh Air's language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg.

Jan Harold Brunvand explores a popular misconception about the poinsettia plant ... that it is poisonous or toxic.

Susie Orbach and Luise Eichenbaum discuss their new book Between Women: Love, Envy and Competition in Women's Friendships. Ohrbach and Eichenbaum are psychotherapists and best friends.

Fresh Air's rock historian Ed Ward discusses the roots of his own musical tastes.

Comedian Richard Belzer. After struggling through a poor and difficult childhood and a rough decade trying to make it as a comic, he is now performing in comedy clubs from coast to coast. He is also appearing in movies, and starring in comedy specials on cable TV.

Fresh Air's Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone, whose writing on contemporary culture appears regularly in The Village Voice.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg addresses the lengths companies go to in order to come up with the right names for new products.

Father Michael Doyle. He's the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Camden, New Jersey, which sits in the center of a rundown neighborhood in one of the most depressed cities on the East coast. A deeply religious man who over the years has had his differences with the church hierarchy, Fr. Doyle has committed his church to social change and helping the poor.

Writer James Wolcott, who's now a regular columnist on culture for Vanity Fair.

Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, who headed the six-year effort to fly a plane around the world without refueling. They completed their nine-day flight in their light-weight craft called The Voyager on December 23, 1986. They have written a book describing the adventure.

Jan Harold Brunvand traces the urban legends surrounding college exams.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses whether it's possible, or even desirable, to eliminate gender bias in language.

Jan Harold Brunvand explores the urban legend about the solid cement car.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews Chile: Death in the South by Jacobo Timmerman. Timmerman is the former Argentine journalist who was imprisoned for publishing the names of the people who disappeared at the hands of Argentina's dictatorship in the mid-70s. His account of his ordeal was titled Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg shares his thoughts on the peculiar grammatical logic of telephone answering machine recordings.

New York Times columnist William Geist, who wrote the paper's popular "About New York" column. He has collected his favorite columns in a book titled City Slickers. Geist recently left the Times and is now a contributor for the CBS News show, "CBS Sunday Morning."

Jan Harold Brunvand will explore the urban legends that have sprung up around computer glitches, the so-called "mystery glitches."

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone discusses the new ABC television series "thirtysomething."