Tweet Nothings - 13 June 2011

<p>SUMMARY<br /><br />How much humor and personality can you pack into a 140-character update? A lot, it turns out. Martha and Grant talk about funny Twitter feeds. Also this week, the origins of skosh and can't hold a candle, why dragonflies are sometimes called snake doctors, whether the word pre-plan is redundant, and how technology is affecting the experience of reading.<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Martha and Grant share some of their latest guilty-pleasure reading from Twitter feeds that show just how much meaning can be compressed into 140 characters. Cases in point: @veryshortstory and @GRAMMARHULK.<br /><br />http://twitter.com/veryshortstory<br /><br />http://twitter.com/GRAMMARHULK<br /><br />He can't hold a candle to someone means that he can't possibly compare to the other person. The hosts explain where this phrase comes from.<br /><br />A zoo tour guide wants a specific word to describe how elephants procure hydration. <br /><br />Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle called "This, That, and the Other."<br /><br />A Facebook newbie asks if it's okay to misspell words on purpose when communicating via social media. <br /><br />The mother of eight-year-old twins wonders why one of her girls habitually adds Dun-dun-DUN! to sentences in everyday conversation. The hosts suspect it's related to the audio element known as a "sting" in television and movie parlance, like this one in the famous "Dramatic Prairie Dog" video clip.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs&NR=1<br /><br />The term skosh means "a small amount," and derives from a Japanese word that means the same thing.<br /><br />Remember when the expression "reading a book" meant, well, actually reading a book? Martha and Grant discuss a Los Angeles Times series about how electronic devices are changing the way we read.<br /><br />http://lat.ms/auLP0c<br /><br />The distinctive shape of the dragonfly has inspired lots of different nicknames for this insect, including snake doctor, devil's darning needle, skeeter hawk, spi