AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the paradox of a social greeting designed not to offend anyone that, by its very design, offends some people. RS: Next Sunday, most Americans will celebrate Christmas. This year,...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: new standards for English learners in American public schools. RS: One in nine public school students is a non-native English speaker; in twenty years, it could be one in four. Th...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: a pronunciation question from Quebec, Canada. RS: Nam-Thien Khuu writes by e-mail, I have heard [that the letter 't' is silent when it comes after a stressed syllable]. Am I right...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the second part of our conversation with Erin McKean, editor-in-chief of American dictionaries for Oxford University Press. RS: We start by talking about the proper way to get to...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: Anu Garg, creator of the A.Word.A.Day Web site and author of a new book called Another Word A Day: An All-New Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: some new elements in The Elements of Style. RS: The Elements of Style is a little book that for decades has served countless writers and editors. The two authors have long since p...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: a conversation about small talk. RS: Our guest is Debra Fine, author of a new book called The Fine Art of Small Talk. DEBRA FINE: It is not the business conversation, not the busi...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster, Musa Nushi, a 27-year-old Iranian with a master's degree in English teaching from Tehran University. MUSA NUSHI: English is in high demand in Iran because lots of people are going...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble. This week on Wordmaster: more about the redesigned Test of English as a Foreign Language from the Educational Testing Service. Over the coming year, the new TOEFL iBT -- or Internet-based test -- will replace...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the new TOEFL. RS: TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language. It's required by many colleges and universities in the United States and elsewhere as a measure of a student...