A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Light-hearted conversation with callers from all over about new words, old sayings, slang, family expressions, and language change and differences, as well as word histories, etymology, linguistics, regional dialects, word games, grammar, books, literature, writing, and more. Listeners of all backgrounds can join author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett on the show with their language thoughts, questions, and stories: https://waywordradio.org/contact or [email protected]. Call any time toll-free 24/7 in the U.S. and Canada 1 (877) 929-9673 or worldwide +1 619 800 4443. Past episodes and show notes: https://waywordradio.org/.
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This Show Has Moved to A New Feed
03/28/2024
This Show Has Moved to A New Feed
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 good time to choose a new podcast player. A Way with Words is available on every major podcast player. All of them are free or have a very good no-cost tier. Thank you for being a longtime listener and a part of our community. Best wishes, Martha, Grant, and the rest of the A Way with Words crew
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Gilded Age - 25 March 2024
03/25/2024
Gilded Age - 25 March 2024
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, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Loaded For Bear (Rebroadcast) - 18 March 2024
03/18/2024
Loaded For Bear (Rebroadcast) - 18 March 2024
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 that's chossy. Plus: a proverbial puzzle, loaded for bear, pizey, helter-skelter and other reduplicatives, shirttail relative, counting coup, and just a shlook. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Bronx Cheer - 11 March 2024
03/11/2024
Bronx Cheer - 11 March 2024
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 un train, a messy pangram, the big bird, and how to pronounce labret. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Mrs. Astor's Horse (Rebroadcast) - 4 March 2024
03/04/2024
Mrs. Astor's Horse (Rebroadcast) - 4 March 2024
"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 children and parents." All that, plus a brain-busting quiz about scrambled words, Mrs. Astor's pet horse, dissimilation when pronouncing the word forward, tap 'er light, allopreening, raise the window down, and why we call a zipper a fly. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Ghost Runner - 26 February 2024
02/26/2024
Ghost Runner - 26 February 2024
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 teaser about action-packed metaphors, ghostie, gander's arch, and fluffle. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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At First Blush (Rebroadcast) - 19 February 2024
02/19/2024
At First Blush (Rebroadcast) - 19 February 2024
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 notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Sweet Spot - 12 February 2024
02/12/2024
Sweet Spot - 12 February 2024
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, fourth-person pronouns, meronymy, shambles, semantic bleaching, opening lines of Turkish fairy tales, and the business end. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Gift Horse (Rebroadcast) - 5 February 2024
02/05/2024
Gift Horse (Rebroadcast) - 5 February 2024
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 might buy isn't from the owner -- it's straight from the horse's mouth. Plus, shoofly pie, bring you down a buttonhole lower, didaskaleinophobia, pangrams by middle schoolers, Albany beef, starting a sentence with Say, and a brain teaser inspired by a New Jersey grandma. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Had the Radish (Rebroadcast) - 29 January 2024
01/29/2024
Had the Radish (Rebroadcast) - 29 January 2024
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 dialect, and Sunday driver. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Orange Pigs - 22 January 2024
01/22/2024
Orange Pigs - 22 January 2024
What do you call a segment of an orange? These juicy pieces of fruit go by lots of different names, including section, wedge, and carpel. But they're also called pegs or even pigs! The stringy parts of a banana also have a surprising name. Also, we need a word to describe that productive period of wakefulness in the middle of the night before falling back into "second sleep." And: anagrams that make a statement. The letters in the word "listen," l-i-s-t-e-n, can be rearranged to form the word "silent," and the word "conversation" can be switched around to read "Voices rant on"! Plus, gussie, phloem bundles, desahogar, dorveille, a "take-off" quiz, the wayback, ahogarse en un vaso de agua, different ways to say "You're welcome," hypnopompic, uto-uto, sockdolager, apizza, bobtail beats the devil, and just like New York! Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Abso-Bloomin-Lutely (Rebroadcast) - 15 January 2024
01/15/2024
Abso-Bloomin-Lutely (Rebroadcast) - 15 January 2024
The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or dead, to dinner. Who's on your guest list and why? Plus, anchors aweigh! The slang of sailors includes the kind of BOSS you'd better dodge, a barn you sail into, and the difference between the Baja Ha-Ha and the Baja Bash. All that, and a brain game about body parts, conked out and zonked out, synonyms for synonym, ferhunsed, chronopaguous, nemophilist, sea-kindly, smithereens, and standing on my own two pins. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Niblings and Nieflings (Rebroadcast) - 8 January 2024
01/08/2024
Niblings and Nieflings (Rebroadcast) - 8 January 2024
How do actors bring Shakespeare's lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That technique is called billboarding. And: Anyone for an alphabet game? A pangram is a sentence that uses EVERY letter of the alphabet at least once. There's the one about the quick, brown fox, of course. But there's a whole world of others, including pangrams about Brexit, emoji, and a pop singer behaving, well ... badly. Plus sworping, agga forti, spelling out letters, the uncertain etymology of kazoo, larruping, the hairy eyeball, where the woodbine twineth, and a brain teaser based on characters that might have been in a Disney movie. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Book Moth - 1 January 2024
01/01/2024
Book Moth - 1 January 2024
If you skip wearing underwear, you're said to be going commando. This bit of slang originated during the Vietnam War, when U.S. commandos had compelling reasons to do without that particular piece of clothing. Plus, Watergate salad is a mixture of pistachio pudding with whipped cream and pineapple. This dish was popularized in the 1970s, but what does it have anything to do with the scandal that brought down a president? Also: The practice of blurring out images or text in ads or movies helps avoid giving free advertising to a sponsor's competitor. This strategy is called greeking, but why? The answer is Greek to us! All that, and buveur d'encre, clodhopper, a wild and wooly quiz, fantasy fiction, insure vs. ensure, live vs. stay, get outside of a meal, green goop, mean green, whale fall, and the long and winding etymological route of that name for "eggplant," brinjal. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Kite in a Phonebooth (Rebroadcast) - 25 December 2023
12/25/2023
Kite in a Phonebooth (Rebroadcast) - 25 December 2023
Stunt performers in movies have their own jargon for talking about their dangerous work. They refer to a stunt, for example, as a gag. Across the country in Brooklyn, the slang term brick means "cold," and dumb brick means "really cold." Plus: the East and Central African tradition that distinguishes between ancestors who remain alive in living memory, and all the rest who have receded into the vast ocean of history. In this sense, all of us are moving toward the past, not away from it. Plus, the Indiana town that was named incorrectly because of a bureaucratic mixup. The town's name? Correct. Also, a brain game with words big and little, slushburger vs. sloppy joe, go fry ice, fracas, beat the band, sensational spelling, heavier than a dead minister, and telling porkies. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Takes All Kinds - 18 December 2023
12/18/2023
Takes All Kinds - 18 December 2023
Crossword puzzles are a marvelous mental workout. A delightful new book about them shares plenty of crossword lore and puzzle-solving tips. Also, performers who tell each other break a leg aren't really hoping someone gets hurt. The phrase stems from an old superstition that involves saying the opposite of what you really wish. And: is conversate a real word? You bet it is! Prepare for some serious conversating about this very useful term. Plus, the origin of quesadilla, kill two birds with one stone vs. feed two birds with one seed, touch base vs. touch bases, the different impact of short stories and novels, no te comas el coco, In bocca del lupo, You ate that haircut!, and a brain teaser about itsy-bitsy anagrams that'll leave your mind feeling pulled through a knothole backwards. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Strawberry Moon (Rebroadcast) - 11 December 2023
12/11/2023
Strawberry Moon (Rebroadcast) - 11 December 2023
We asked for your thoughts about whether cursive writing should be taught in schools -- and you replied with a resounding "Yes!" Here's why: Cursive helps develop fine motor skills, improves mental focus, and lets you read old handwritten letters and other documents. Plus: finding your way to a more nuanced understanding of language; the more you know about linguistic diversity, the more you embrace those differences rather than criticize them. Finally, a brain game using translations of Native American words for lunar months. During which month would you see a Strawberry Moon? Plus newstalgia, fauxstalgia, lethologica, by and large, pank, yay vs. yea, collywobbles, and carlymarbles. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Highway Robbery - 4 December 2023
12/04/2023
Highway Robbery - 4 December 2023
Secret signals on the job: Waitresses at some 19th-century restaurants ensured speedy drink service by communicating with a non-verbal code. One server took orders, then placed each customer's cup to indicate exactly what the customer wanted. A second server could then whisk right in and serve the right beverage without asking. Also, the term highway robbery goes back to the 1600s, when armed robbers stopped carriages traveling out of town and ordered occupants to turn over their valuables. And what in the world is a nurdle? Plus, sun grin, John Doe and Richard Roe, a quiz that's twice the fun, too much sugar for a dime, Don't strain your milk, Stand and deliver, Tetrising, Your feet don't fit a limb, and Holy cow! Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Spill the Tea (Rebroadcast) - 27 November 2023
11/27/2023
Spill the Tea (Rebroadcast) - 27 November 2023
If someone urges you to spill the tea, they probably don't want you tipping over a hot beverage. Originally, the tea here was the letter T, as in truth. To spill the T means to pass along truthful information. Plus, some delicious Italian idioms involving food. The Italian phrase that literally translates Eat the soup or jump out the window! means Take it or leave it, and a phrase that translates as We don't fry with water around here! means We don't do things halfway! Also: why carbonated beverages go by various names, including soda, pop, and coke, depending on what part of the country you're from. Plus: fill your boots, bangorrhea, cotton to, and howdy; milkshakes, frappes, velvets, and cabinets; push-ups, press-ups and lagartijas; the Spanish origin of the word alligator, don't break my plate or saw off my bench, a takeoff quiz, FOMO after death, and much more. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Dirty Laundry (Rebroadcast) - 20 November 2023
11/20/2023
Dirty Laundry (Rebroadcast) - 20 November 2023
When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term for "straw." And: What's the story behind the bedtime admonition "Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite"? Plus, when grownups are talking about sex or money, they may remind each other that "little pitchers have big ears." It's a reference to the ear-shaped handle on a jug, and the knack kids have for picking up on adult topics and then spilling that new knowledge elsewhere. Plus, lick the calf over, lady locks, dirty clothes vs. laundry, towhead, and build a coffee. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Strong Coffee - 13 November 2023
11/13/2023
Strong Coffee - 13 November 2023
During 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: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Keep Your Powder Dry (Rebroadcast) - 6 November 2023
11/06/2023
Keep Your Powder Dry (Rebroadcast) - 6 November 2023
Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms – that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette commemorates a penny-pinching treasury secretary who lasted only a few months in office and was associated with these shadow portraits. Also, if the words strubbly, briggling, and wabashing aren’t already in your vocabulary, they should be – if only because they’re so much fun to say. Only one of them refers to messy, tousled hair. Plus: wing it, versing, cock one’s strumples, keep your powder dry, and embeverage. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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One-Armed Paper Hanger (Rebroadcast) - 30 October 2023
10/30/2023
One-Armed Paper Hanger (Rebroadcast) - 30 October 2023
The emotional appeal of handwriting and the emotional reveal of animal phrases. Should children be taught cursive writing in school, or is their time better spent studying other things? A handwritten note and a typed one may use the very same words, but handwritten version may seem much more intimate. Plus, English is full of grisly expressions about animals, such as "there's more than one way to skin a cat" and "until the last dog is hung." The attitudes these sayings reflect aren't so prevalent today, but the phrases live on. Finally, the centuries-old story of the mall in "shopping mall." Plus, agloo, dropmeal, tantony pig, insidious ruses, yen, and a commode you wear on your head. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Hair on Your Tongue (Rebroadcast) - 23 October 2023
10/23/2023
Hair on Your Tongue (Rebroadcast) - 23 October 2023
If you speak both German and Spanish, you may find yourself reaching for a German word instead of a Spanish one, and vice versa. This puzzling experience is so common among polyglots that linguists have a name for it. Also, the best writers create luscious, long sentences using the same principles that make for a musician's melodious phrasing or a tightrope walker's measured steps. Finally, want to say something is wild and crazy in Norwegian? You can use a slang phrase that translates as "That's totally Texas!" Plus happenstance, underwear euphemisms, pooh-pooh, scrappy, fret, gedunk, tartar sauce, antejentacular, and the many ways to pronounce the word experiment. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Train of Thought (Rebroadcast) - 16 October 2023
10/16/2023
Train of Thought (Rebroadcast) - 16 October 2023
Chances are you recognize the expressions Judgment Day and the root of all evil as phrases from the Bible. There are many others, though, some of which may surprise you: the powers that be and bottomless pit first appeared in scripture. Plus, there's a term for when the language of a minority is adopted by the majority. When, for example, expressions from drag culture and hip-hop go mainstream, they're said to have covert prestige. And the language of proxemics: how architects design spaces to bring people together or help them keep their distance. All that, and Segway vs. segue, part and parcel, Land of Nod, hue and cry, on the razzle, train of thought, and a special Swedish word for a special place of refuge. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Space Cadet (Rebroadcast) - 9 October 2023
10/09/2023
Space Cadet (Rebroadcast) - 9 October 2023
We have books that should be on every language lover's wish list, plus a couple of recommendations for history buffs. Plus: how did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft project, and a city council meeting. Plus, wordplay with palindromes. Instead of reversing just individual letters, some palindromes reverse entire words! Like this one: You can cage a swallow, but you can't swallow a cage, can you? Also, squeaky clean, Dad, icebox, search it up, pretend vs. pretentious, toe-counting rhymes, comb the giraffe, and a Korean song about carrots. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Howling Fantods (Rebroadcast) - 2 October 2023
10/02/2023
Howling Fantods (Rebroadcast) - 2 October 2023
Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing drug-laced dollar bills, or that AM radio stations only broadcast in the morning? A Twitter thread prompts those and other funny confessions. And: a moving new memoir by Kansas writer Sarah Smarsh touches on the connection between vocabulary and class. Plus, the inventive language of writer David Foster Wallace: Even if you've never heard the term "nose-pore-range," you can probably guess what it means. Also, ilk, how to pronounce Gemini, fart in a mitten, greebles, make over, sploot, and to boot. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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Pizza Bones - 25 September 2023
09/25/2023
Pizza Bones - 25 September 2023
What's in a name? If your last name is Cook or Smith, your ancestors probably worked in those professions. But what if your last name is Pope? Or Abbott? Don't worry--there's an explanation for that. And if you have enough food for Coxey's army, you have more than enough to go around. The phrase refers to protesters marching on Washington more than a century ago. Plus, the debate over pizza bones: Some people say they're one of the best parts of the pie! Also, biweekly, shichimencho, piza no mimi, a Barbenheimer-inspired portmanteau puzzle, advice for writers of children's books, lax vowel lowering, zero-proof drink, spoken Garamond, and a catchy camp song. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
/episode/index/show/awww/id/28126187
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Bottled Sunshine (Rebroadcast) - 18 September 2023
09/18/2023
Bottled Sunshine (Rebroadcast) - 18 September 2023
If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term was adapted into English from Dutch, and means "an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric." And: What's your relationship with the books on your shelves? Do the ones you haven't read yet make you feel guilty -- or inspired? Finally, we're all used to fairy tales that start with the words "Once upon a time." Not so with Korean folktales, which sometimes begin with the beguiling phrase "In the old days, when tigers used to smoke…" Plus, excelsior, oxtercog, wharfinger, minuend, awesome vs. awful, Good Googly Moogly, and eating crackers in bed. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
/episode/index/show/awww/id/28058847
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Endless Summer - 11 September 2023
09/11/2023
Endless Summer - 11 September 2023
Surf's up! When surfers describe the waves as going gangbusters, it's a great time to be out on the water. But why describe surf conditions that way? Plus, a thesaurus of flavors serves up some delicious writing about the taste of various foods and spices. And speaking of flavors, the history of vanilla is anything but bland. When this spice was introduced to 16th-century Europeans, it was considered a rare delicacy. So why does the expression plain vanilla suggest something a bit boring today? Also, funny street names, hoorah's nest, mooch, a quiz chock-full of assonance, traffic-light sundae, lawn jobs, sleigh riding vs. sledding, Burn my clothes!, copperosity, and sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: . Be a part of the show: call toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS . Email . Twitter . Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.
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