This week’s column focuses on a query by a reader from Coimbatore: What is the origin of the terms ‘spinster’ and ‘shell-shocked’? A man who suffered a heart attack was admitted to a hospital run by ...

It bears repeating. If you don't know a word's meaning, saying it louder doesn't make it easier to understand. That goes for seashell terms, tossed about field guides like sand in the surf. Let's ...