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Your Brain on Shakespeare

What, ho! Researchers in England report that reading Shakespeare "positively excites" your brainwaves. To which Martha and Grant say: "Duh!"

Your Brain on Shakespeare

Originally aired May 19, 2007

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What, ho! Researchers studying brainwaves report that reading Shakespeare “positively excites” your gray matter. Martha and Grant’s reaction? “Duh!”

Martha explains why we say “the cat’s pajamas” and “the bee’s knees,” and Grant discusses whether “dis” is a real word.

Puzzle guy John Chaneski presents a novel quiz about -- what else? -- novels.

A listener shares the meaning of the slang term “show up and throw up.”
Support for A Way With Words comes from Thinkmap, maker of the Visual Thesaurus, an interactive dictionary and thesaurus. The Visual Thesaurus brings language to life. Learn more at VisualThesaurus.com.

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