Strong Coffee - 13 November 2023
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Release Date: 11/13/2023
This Show Has Moved to A New Feed
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
For more than two years, we have been redirecting this feed to our new A Way with Words podcast feed address. Unfortunately, if you're seeing this message, it means your podcasting app doesn't obey the RSS and podcasting industry standards accepted for such redirects. It's okay! You can simply add the show via its new address. The new feed address is: Unfortunately, this also means that if you are still using the very ancient apps created for very old versions of iOS and Android, you will also stop receiving new episodes in those apps. They should be uninstalled. Now could be a...
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Gilded Age - 25 March 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
In her sumptuous new memoir, Jamaican writer Safiya Sinclair describes her escape from a difficult childhood ruled by her tyrannical father. For Sinclair, poetry became a lifeline. Plus: that fizzy chocolate drink called an egg cream contains neither eggs nor cream--but why? And what do you call that cute dimple in someone's chin? A listener calls it a chimple. Also, arrested sternutation, nonplussed, slatch, the Gruen effect, tinker, barnburner, up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire, nd how lakes are named. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions,...
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Loaded For Bear (Rebroadcast) - 18 March 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
One way to make your new business look trendy is to use two nouns separated by an ampersand, like Peach & Creature . . . or Rainstorm & Egg. A tongue-in-cheek website will generate names like that for you. And: in the traditions of several African countries, names for babies are often inspired by conditions at the time of their birth, like a period of grief or wedding festivities, or the baby's position when leaving the womb. In Zambia, for example, many people go by the name Bornface, because they were born face up. Finally, slang from a rock-climber, who warns not to go near rock...
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Bronx Cheer - 11 March 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
What's the best thing to say to someone who is grieving? Choosing the right words is far less important than just showing up in the first place. Also, a family from Russia shares their recipe for something they call . . . hot tamales? How's that again? And: if someone's trying to be philosophical about a situation, they might say Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you. Plus, horsengoggling, a fragrant 16th-century simile, Might as well, can't dance, a puzzle about cryptic crosswords, Trevlac, Québécois French, Pearl at the picnic, avoir l'air d'une vache qui regarde passer...
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Mrs. Astor's Horse (Rebroadcast) - 4 March 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
"What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn't a cat?" Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children's joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explanation for the difference between immigrate with an i, and emigrate with an e. And ....a story about storks. The ancient Greeks revered these birds for the way they cared for each other. They even had a legal requirement called the Stork Law, which mandated that Greek adults look after their elderly parents. Much later, the same idea inspired a rare English word that means "reciprocal love between...
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Ghost Runner - 26 February 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
In Japan, if you want to order a corndog, you ask for an Amerikan doggu (アメリカンドッグ). These types of coinages are called wasei-eigo, or "Japanese-made English," and there are lots of them. Plus, an atmospheric optical phenomenon that looks somewhat like the Aurora Borealis, but has a much friendlier name. Scientists refer to these ribbons of color as . . . Steve. And: need a synonym for the word "conspicuous"? There's always "kenspeckle." Also, nitnoy, faire la grasse matinée, Sunday-to-meeting, Sana, sana, colita de rana, a codebreaker who solves a years-long mystery, a brain...
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At First Blush (Rebroadcast) - 19 February 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Book recommendations and the art of apology. Martha and Grant share some good reads, including an opinionated romp through English grammar, a Spanish-language adventure novel, an account of 19th-century dictionary wars, and a gorgeously illustrated book of letters to young readers. Plus, what's the best language for conveying a heartfelt apology? Ideally, an apology won't be the end of a conversation. Rather, it will be the beginning of one. Plus, a brain-busting word quiz, snow job, clean as a whistle, high muckety-muck, tip us your daddle, and a wet bird never flies at night. Read full show...
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Sweet Spot - 12 February 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
If you're in a book club, how do you decide what books to read? There are lots of different ways, depending on your group's goals. And is it ever wise to correct someone who mispronounces a word? Sometimes you have to decide if it's better to be right--or simply get along. Plus, some research suggests that when presented with photos from nature, humans naturally focus on animals instead of plants. Botanists even have a term for this tendency: plant blindness. Also, tight as a drum, a funny quiz about slightly altered Stephen King titles, sweet spot, lemniscate, kehrätä, mais garde donc,...
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Gift Horse (Rebroadcast) - 5 February 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop, or a medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you're close to another dimension of space and time. There's a term for such locales: thin places. And: did you ever go tick-tacking a few nights before Halloween? Tic-tacking refers to pranks like tapping ominously on windows without being caught, or tossing corn kernels all over a front porch. Also, horses run throughout our language, a relic of when these animals were much more commonplace in everyday life. For example, the best place to get information about a horse you...
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Had the Radish (Rebroadcast) - 29 January 2024
A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
This week on A Way with Words: Your first name is very personal, but what if you don't like it? For some people, changing their name works out great, but for others, it may create more problems than it solves. And: at least three towns in the U.S. were christened with names formed by spelling a word backwards. There's a name for such names: they're called ananyms. Plus, the Iowa town with a curious name: Welcome to the town of What Cheer! And: a brain game involving kangaroo words, had the radish, landed up vs. ended up, who struck John, English on a ball, hoop it up, affirming the Appalachian...
info_outlineDuring the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of volunteers helped crowdsource the Oxford English Dictionary. This venerable reference work includes citations sent in by inventors, eccentrics, scientists and educators, an Arctic explorer--even the owner of the world's largest collection of pornography. A lively new book tells their stories. Plus, a healthcare worker finds herself adopting the accent of her patients. And: golf terms that make their way into everyday language, from mulligan to stymie. Also, fossicking, noodling, handicap, I beg your pardon, paper tiger, Voy a puro pincel, TTWWADI, hail-fellow-well-met, dear me suz, and a pickle of a puzzle.
Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Twitter @wayword. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.