Today's Daily Dispatch

QUIT HARPING ON THAT

Posted March 07, 2010

In today’s show you were commenting about the number 47.  The audience and participants all decided that concert harps do not have 47 strings.  They have have obviously never met my Lyon and Healy Full sized concert grand (orchestral) harp, which, as I just confirmed, does in fact have 47 strings, all of which require tuning.  There are multiple sizes of harp, ranging from 12 strings to 47 strings, but the official “concert” harp used in orchestras is a 47 string harp.

Sarah McGinnis of Woonsocket, RI

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‘RAMP’ PARSE

Posted December 12, 2011

I listened to today’s show and the question about ‘ramp up.’ But the correct answer isn’t the one anyone gave: The word ‘ramp’ comes from the French verb ‘ramper’--to crawl. When you see a lion ‘rampant’, he is ‘crawling’ in the air with his feet. A ramp for someone who crawls rather than walks. A ramp rises gradually and gave us the word for raising or ‘stepping up’ an effort.

Deborah Warren of Andover, MA

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WE RUE OUR ANSWER

Posted November 15, 2011

I love “Says You,” so it pains me to say that you got an answer slightly wrong on the November 13 broadcast. The murderer in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is not a gorilla, as you would have it, but an orangutan, or “Ourang-Outang” Poe refers to the animal. The species of the offending creature is essential to the story, so I hope you will revisit and correct this question in a future show.

Thanks for your wonderful show!

Deborah Robbins of San Francisco, CA

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