The Gist

How the Post Office Cured “Going Postal”

Newspapers coined the term to refer to mail carriers gone berserk.

A United States Postal Service mail carrier loads mail in Santa Monica, California, in 2014.

Bob Berg/Getty Images

Listen to Episode 513 of Slate’s The Gist:

Subscribe in iTunes ∙ RSS feed ∙ DownloadPlay in another tab
Slate Plus 
members: Get your ad-free podcast feed.

On The Gist, a postcard with Devin Leonard on the origins of the phrase “going postal.” Leonard’s new book is Neither Snow Nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service. Plus, Stephen Teret on smart guns. For the Spiel, Hillary Clinton’s cinch of a clinched nomination.

Today’s sponsor:

The Gist is brought to you by Betterment, the largest automated investing service—managing billions of dollars for people just like you. Get up to six months of investing FREE when you go to Betterment.com/gist. Betterment—investing made better.

Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. ESPN.com’s Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.

Join the discussion of this episode on Facebook.

Email: thegist@slate.com
Twitter: @slategist