Mignon Fogarty

Thanks!

How fun!

The book is "The Gifts of the Crow" by John Marzluff. It also includes stories about other corvids, including ravens and jays.

bookshop.org/p/books/gift...

I'll try to remember to post more stories to this thread as I hear them. 6/x

The Tower of London's Ravens Can Be Dismissed for Bad Behavior "Conduct unbecoming to Tower Residents" is not tolerated.

Here's another one:

Tower of London ravens are "enlisted" in the kingdom's service and can be dishonorably discharged.

George was dismissed and sent to a zoo for "conduct unbecoming" after he developed an obsession with destroying TV antennas. 5/x

www.atlasobscura.com/articles/tow...

YouTube video by The Oregonian The Mystery of Cosmo the Talking Crow (FULL - Parts 1 - 12)

"The Oregonian" even made a 12-part documentary about "Cosmo the Talking Crow," and it's on YouTube. It's about an hour long in total. (I haven't watched it yet.) 4/x

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvV2...

And it's not even the only time something like this has happened!

I found another story of a crow that hung out for a while at an Oregon elementary school, and it also ordered around dogs. 3/x

apnews.com/article/oreg...

The crow would whistle and call out to dogs “Here doggy,” and it eventually gathered a pack of about six confused dogs that it would incite to chase students between classes.

I didn't think the story could be real, but I found a reference, and apparently it's a well-known story in Missoula. 2/x

Pat feeds the crows on our morning walks, so for Christmas I got him a book about crows, and he's been sharing the most amazing stories as he reads it!

It turns out crows kept as pets can learn to talk, and there was once a crow in Montana that left its home and ended up on a college campus. 1/x

So delighted to talk in a normal voice about this topic! Thank you for having me on!

I'm not in charge of our website, but my understanding is we're having a similar problem. Good luck!

🥰

Thanks for coming on the show. It's all so fascinating!

Square promotional graphic for the Grammar Girl podcast interview. A pale green background with a courthouse façade features large headline text: “Why do we SHOUT in ALL CAPS?” At left, a woman with brown hair rests her chin on her hand and looks thoughtfully at the viewer. At right, the guest, a man wearing glasses, looks off to the side under pink-purple lighting. Labels identify “Grammar Girl” and “Glenn Fleishman.” Icons at the top indicate listening on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, with a QDT logo in the corner and an “Interview” tag.

When you're a tech historian, you wonder about a lot of interesting things, and @glennf.com wondered about the history of "shouty caps."

And of course, he found a surprising answer!
This week, we talk about that and more. Check it out:
APPLE: bit.ly/4aWLqnA
SPOTIFY: bit.ly/4tL9v8n

Thanks!

Thanks!

Wow, that's the second mangled Mail headline I've seen shared today.

Oh, interesting. Thanks!

Thanks!

Interesting. I haven't heard "farewell" used this way before. Is it common in Australia?

"Surfer Funeral for Liberty" references the 'paddle out', a ritual in which surfers **farewell** the recently deceased by forming a circle beyond the breaking waves.

Square promotional graphic for the *Grammar Girl* podcast. An olive-green background with bold orange squiggle accents features large white text reading “LISTEN NOW!” A smiling woman with appears on the right. Smaller text reads “Episode 1160.” At the bottom, an orange banner says: “Battle of the Moguls: ‘Awhile’ versus ‘A While.’ Crittador.” The *Grammar Girl* logo appears at the top.

"A while" and "awhile" have different meanings.

"A while" is a noun phrase and means “a period of time.”

"Awhile" is an adverb, and it means “for a time.”

Check out the podcast for helpful examples and memory tricks: pod.link/173429229

Square promo graphic for the *Grammar Girl* podcast. An orange background with subtle waveform lines and large faded letters sits behind a smiling woman with long brown hair centered in the foreground. Text at the top reads: “Battle of the Moguls: ‘Awhile’ versus ‘A While.’ Crittador.” A small label says “EP 1160.” At the bottom, the *Grammar Girl* logo appears, along with a small QDT (Quick and Dirty Tips) badge.

Media moguls don't have anything to do with ski moguls. At least not etymologically!

On this week's Grammar Girl podcast, I'll load you up with fun "mogul" facts you can pull out to impress your friends while you're watching the Olympics.

Listen: pod.link/173429229

Oh, wow. Thank you! That Google presentation was a long time ago.

Thank you! This is only the second time I've rereleased an interview, but it is as timely now as it was back then — and so useful.

Apologies! That page hasn't been updated since last year.

ACES plans to have a poetry contest this year, but they haven't launched the entry form yet. I just updated the website.

Thanks! That's a weird one. :)

Push notification from The Guardian: “USA’s Ilia Malinin misses podium after series of falls, finishing eighth in seismic Olympic figure skating shock.”

This makes it sound like he tried to get up the stairs and kept tumbling back down.

YouTube video by Grammar Girl Why writing with 'civic clarity' is so important, with Roy Peter Clark (2020)

Other ways to get the show:

YOUTUBE: youtu.be/eS7bobT1XnM

READ: grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/115...

LISTEN: pod.link/173429229

Writing for ‘civic clarity’ (plus, the power of short sentences), with Roy Peter Clark Podcast Episode · Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing · 02/12/2026 · 23m

I've been thinking a lot about an interview I did back in 2020 with Roy Peter Clark about the importance of "civic clarity."

I think it's more important now than ever, so I re-edited the piece this week. I hope you'll listen.

APPLE: apple.co/4tzACTF
SPOTIFY: tinyurl.com/2ahmm5ym

YouTube video by Grammar Girl How Winter Olympic sports got their names

More options!

WATCH: youtu.be/tQBdBGi69vs?...

READ: grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/115...

LISTEN: pod.link/173429229

How bored tourists invented an Olympic sport. Centigrade or Celsius? Piqua Podcast Episode · Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing · 02/10/2026 · 14m

Ever wonder why we say "Celsius" instead of "centigrade"?

Anders Celsius proposed his scale in 1742 — but it was backward! Water *boiled* at 0 and *froze* at 100. Other scientists flipped it after he died.

Listen to learn more:

APPLE: tinyurl.com/25rltzyu
SPOTIFY: tinyurl.com/242btrqw