A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

[This episode first aired March 6, 2010.]"Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: slatch http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/slatch. Also this week: Is there a better alternative to the word "mentee"? What's "pooflapoo pie"?A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get "on the stick." The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is "on the ball." Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: "on the kinipopo." http://bit.ly/bHw1F6What's the best term for "someone who's being mentored"? A woman in a mentoring program at church thinks the word "mentee sounds like "manatee." She's hoping for an alternative.Grant shares another weather-related word from Britain: parky.http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=57638Quiz Guy John Chaneski offers a puzzle in honor of the hosts' initials. Every clue prompts a two-word answer beginning with the letters M and B or G and B. For example: "Paper or plastic?"A caller named Todd says that when people meet him for the first time, they sometimes call him Scott, even if he's wearing a nametag with his real name on it. It's happened too many times to be a coincidence, he says, and wonders if there's something about the double letters that registers the wrong name in people's minds. Why do we get other people's names wrong?Whip up a big batch of pistachio pudding, then add pineapple, walnuts, Cool Whip, and marshmallow bits, and what do you have? A Los Angeles woman says her grandmother used to make a dish with those ingredients that she called "pooflapoo pie." Is that just her family's name for it, or do other people refer to it that way? Other people call it "Watergate salad" or "ambrosia."Have trouble remembering the difference between stalagtites and stalagmites? Martha shares a mnemonic that will help.A police officer says that the prosecutor edits out the word "that" from the reports he submits, as in, "The subject stated that he met the co-defendant at a party." Is the word "that" necessary here? Martha and Grant disagree. Also, the cop also has a brain-teaser for the hosts: Can you use the word "that" five times consecutively in a sentence correctly?The hosts talk about the tricks they use to remember how to spell certain words.Why do we say that someone finely attired is "dressed to the nines"?A woman says that when playing hide-and-seek with a small child, her mother-in-law says "peep-eye"!" instead of "peekaboo"!" Is that usage limited to certain parts of the country? And where do they say "pee-bo"!"?Grant talks about two other weather-related terms, "frontogenesis" and "aeromancy."When comparing one item with the rest of the items in a group, "which is better: more or most"?--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2011, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired February 27, 2010.]What's in a pet's name? Martha and Grant swap stories about how they came up with names for their dogs. Also this week: Have you ever been called a "stump-jumper"? How about a snicklefritz? And what's the last word in the dictionary? Depending on which dictionary you consult, it might be "zythum," "zyzzyva," "zyxomma," or "zyxt."Sometimes the process of naming a pet takes a while. The hosts talk about how their dogs' names evolved.A native Japanese speaker is mystified by the expression "happy as a clam." In Japanese, she says, if you had a good night's sleep you might say you "slept like a clam" or "slept like mud." So why do English speakers think clams are content? What's the very last word in the dictionary? Depending on which dictionary you're using, you may see "zythum," "zyzzyva," "zyxomma," or "zyxt."This week's word puzzle from Quiz Guy Greg Pliska involves taking a word, adding an "i" to the beginning, as if creating an Apple product, to get an entirely new word. For instance: "This is how Steve Jobs begins a card game."A caller from Princeton, Texas, remembers that after a satisfying meal, her late father used to push back from the table and say, "I am sufficiently suffonsified. Anything more would be purely obnoxious to my taste. No thank you." What heck did he mean by that?A Vermonter says he's sometimes called a "stump-jumper." Should he be flattered or insulted?Martha shares a couple of "Tom Swifties," those funny sentences that make great punny use of adverbs, like "'My bicycle wheel is damaged,' Tom said outspokenly."Why do we say that someone who's happy is in "hog heaven"?Martha tells the story behind the term "Tom Swifty." Grant shares some more funny examples from the "A Way with Words" discussion forum http://www.waywordradio.org/discussion/episodes-1/a-whole-nother-full-episode/."Gradoo" is a word for something undesirable, the kind of thing you'd rather scrape off your shoe. A man who grew up in Louisiana wonders about the term, which he heard from both English and Cajun French speakers. Someone who says, "I'll be there directly," may not necessarily get there right away. How did the meaning of "directly" change in some parts of the country to mean "by and by"?"You little 'snickelfritz'!" An Indiana man says his mother used to call him that when she meant "You little rascal!" Although the term's meaning has changed over time, its original meaning was a bit naughty.--A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUMMARYWhat would you serve a plumber who comes over for dinner? How about ... leeks? The hosts play a word game called "What Would You Serve?" Also, how can you correct someone's grammar without ruining a new relationship? And is there an easy way to remember the difference between who and whom?FULL DETAILSWhat would you serve a plumber for dinner? How about leeks? (We didn't say it had to be appetizing.) What would you serve a jeweler? Carats. Martha and Grant play the "What Would You Serve?" game.A Little Rock, Ark., caller has been going out with a Chinese woman. Her English is pretty good, but he wonders about the most polite way to correct a minor grammar mistake without ruining a new relationship.What's the origin of the expressions "Word!" and "Word up!"? Grant shares a theory from the book "Black Talk" by Geneva Smitherman.http://bit.ly/gLhqdoBy the way, here's that 1980's-era song "Word Up."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZjAantupsAWhat would you serve a chronic procrastinator? Ketchup. What would you serve a fertility specialist? Eggplant. Martha serves up those and others.Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a quiz based on news events of the last several months, all in limerick form.A woman in Gainesville, Fla., says her father and his partner have an ongoing Scrabble feud over rebeheaded. Is it a word?"Anymore, I play golf instead of tennis." Grant explains that this grammatical construction is known as the "positive anymore."What would you serve to people separated by six degrees? Bacon!A sign-language interpreter found herself translating the word doldrums. She wonders if it has to do the area of the ocean known by that name.What would you serve a group of musicians and cardiologists? How about beets?Martha shares some collective nouns sent in by listeners in response to a recent show on the topic.http://www.waywordradio.org/roberta-of-flax/What does nonplussed mean, exactly? Does it mean "unflappable" or "at a loss." Martha and Grant disagree about its use.Is there some kind of snappy jingle for knowing when to use who and whom? Grant shares some familiar proverbs that supposedly arose from African-American English. The book he mentions is Proverbs, by Wolfgang Mieder.http://bit.ly/dQVxmQNeed a word for "lover of the underdog"? It's infracaninophile.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2011, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired February 6, 2010.]If you're inappropriately focused on the minutiae of a project instead of the bigger picture, you're said to be "bike-shedding." Grant talks about that modern slang term and Martha discusses a word that goes way back in time, right back to "In the beginning," in fact. The word is "tohubohu," and it means a "mess" or "confusion."Grant and Martha discuss a new term, "bike-shedding," and an old one, "tohubohu."Where'd we get the term "swan song"? A caller says this expression came up in conversation just before her retirement and she wonders about its origin. Martha reads email from listeners suggesting alternatives to the word retirement.Is the word "criteria" singular or plural? Quiz Guy John Chaneski's puzzle is about phrases that suggest a pair of words that are spelled alike, except that in one of them, a letter is doubled. Try to guess the two nearly identical words suggested by this phrase: "Wagered on a root vegetable." It's likely America's greatest linguistic export: "O.K." A caller raised in the Philippines is curious about its origin. The hosts give him an answer, and also point out a familiar word in English that derives from the caller's native language, Tagalog.When is it more appropriate to use the word female as opposed to woman?David Pogue http://www.davidpogue.com/, technology columnist for the New York Times, grapples with a slang quiz. First he shares own his favorite slang term, "nonversation," then tries to guess the meaning of the archaic technological slang terms "planktonocrit," "phenakistoscope," and "sphygmograph."What's the correct pronunciation of crayon? Is it cray-on? Cran? Crown? Here's a dialect survey map http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_9.html that shows the distribution of these pronunciations.A Green Bay, Wisconsin, caller is curious about her mother's playful interjections. If someone said, "Well," her mother would add, "Well, well. Three holes in the ground." If someone started a sentence with "So..." she'd interject, "Buttons on your underwear!" Or if someone said, "See," she'd add "Said the blind man as he picked up a hammer and saw." And if they were watching a movie and the dramatic tension rose, she'd declare, "The thought plickens!" The caller wonders if those expressions date back to a particular era or context, and says she's now taught them to her Indonesian husband. --A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUMMARYIs the term "Oriental" offensive? Many people think so. Martha and Grant discuss the reasons why. Also, where do we get the phrase "not one iota"? Why do we tell someone to "take a gander"? And who coined the word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"? FULL DETAILS"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." This kind of sudden, surprising turn in a sentence is called a paraprosdokian. Martha and Grant trade some examples.Instead of crying "uncle," an Indiana woman's family cries calf-rope! She wonders if this expression of submission is unique to her family.Why do we say take a gander for "have a look"?Will Rogers was a master of paraprosdokians. Martha shares a favorite.Too much sugar for a dime can mean either "too good to be true," or "more trouble than it's worth." Merle Travis and Judy Hayden sing about it here.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvkppduB5d0Quiz Guy John Chaneski reprises his popular "Puzzle Hunt" game.A Chinese-American says she's not offended by the term "Oriental," but she's been told she should be. Who's right?The expression not one iota means not one bit. Martha explains that it goes back to ancient Greek, and explains its connection to the Sermon on the Mount.A caller was taught that peruse means to examine closely and carefully, but increasingly hears people use it to mean skim quickly. "Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices" is a new exhibit at the British Library in London featuring the earliest printed versions of Beowulf, the Wycliffe and King James Bible, and the oldest known example of written English.http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/A physicist is curious about the term learning curve. He pictures it as a pair of axes. But if that's the case, what's X and what's Y?Who coined Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?Martha shares another paraprosdokian.What's the correct adjective to describe something associated with the Democrats? Is it Democrat or Democratic?Blueberry buckle is a dessert with cake batter, fruit, and a streussel topping. What does that have to do with buckles?--A Way with Words is a self-supporting independent production. It receives no financial support from NPR, PRI, PBS nor any radio station.Support the show with your tax deductible donation: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired November 9, 2009.] All aboard! This week, a bit about the musical language of railroad conductors' calls: 'Anaheim, Azusa, and Cu-ca-monga!' Also, the origin of the military slang term 'cumshaw,' tips for learning Latin, the influence of Spanish immigrants on English, and the funny story behind why plain-talking Texans say, 'We're going to tell how the cow ate the cabbage.'A trip to the California State Railroad Museum http://www.csrmf.org/ has Grant musing about the way language can change in the mouth of a single individual -- in this case, railroad conductors. He recommends a collection of sound files from metros and subways around the world http://mic-ro.com/metro/announcements.html. For different type of stroll down mem'ry lane, check out Mel Blanc's version of a train conductor here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygVFbz6AsnE.Does anyone still say 'Shut UP!' to mean 'No way!'? A forty-something riding instructor says this Seinfeldian locution confuses some of her younger students.A caller wonders why his North Carolina-born partner uses the phrase 'I'd have liked to' instead of 'I almost' or 'I nearly,' as in 'I'd have liked to died laughing.'Quiz Guy John Chaneski starts a whole lotta shakin' with his puzzle about dances with rhyming names. How about the dance that involves many missteps while dancing to the music of Johann Strauss?Is 'ouch!' a universal word, or does what you say when you stub your toe depend on what language you speak?A Seattle-area veteran remembers that in Vietnam he and others like him were known as 'cumshaw artists.' They were the guys who scared up and permanently borrowed whatever their unit needed -- gasoline, vehicle parts, or whiskey for a party. He's always wondered about the appellation.The phrase 'Let's talk about how the cow ate the cabbage means' 'Let's talk frankly.' The hosts talk plainly about the naughty tale that may be behind it.It's never too late to start learning Latin, a language that will deepen your understanding and appreciation of English. Martha offers tips on how to begin: 'Getting Started with Latin' http://www.gettingstartedwithlatin.com/preview01.php, by William E. Linney, and 'Virent Ova! Viret Perna!' http://www.amazon.com/Virent-Viret-Perna-Green-Latin/dp/0865165556 ('Green Eggs and Ham') by Dr. Seuss, with translation help from Jennifer and Terence Tunberg.A riddle: There's a place where yesterday follows today, and tomorrow's in the middle. Where is it?The word 'scarf,' meaning 'to eat rapidly and greedily,' has a long, winding history. Grant helps a listener unravel it.A die-hard Tyler Perry fan is curious about an emphatic expression she's heard in some of his movies: 'Hell-to-the-no.' What's up with the extra words?A second-generation Mexican-American wonders how much the English language is being influenced by Spanish, especially after a misunderstanding when he turned to his date in the passenger seat and asked if she wanted to 'get down.'Another riddle: I stand on one foot, and my heart is in my head. Who am I?--A Way with Words is a self-supporting independent production. It receives no financial support from NPR, PRI, PBS nor any radio station.Support the show with your tax deductible donation: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired October 24, 2009.]Bavarian Chalet. Mushroom Basket. Moose Point. Who in the heck comes up with the names of paints, anyway? Martha and Grant ponder that mystery. They also explain why those annoying emails go by the name "spam." And Grant explains the difference between being "adorbs" and "bobo."Bavarian Chalet. Mushroom Basket. Moose Point. Who in the heck comes up with the names of paint, anyway? Must be the same people who get paid to give names like Love Child, Sellout, and Apocalypse to shades of lipstick. Martha and Grant discuss wacky color names.Hurly-burly, helter-skelter, zigzag, shilly-shally -- the hosts dish out some claptrap about words like these, otherwise known as "reduplications" or "rhyming jingles." If someone's "naked as a needle," just how naked are they? Why "needle"?Grant and Martha discuss more goofy names for lipstick. Mauvelous Memories, anyone?Quiz Guy John Chaneski's latest puzzle requires players to guess the last word in a two-line verse. For example: "He’s seven feet tall and big as a tank, The meanest Marine that you’ve ever BLANK." (Stumped? Take a letter out of "seven.")An Episcopal priest in Toledo worries that her sermons are cluttered with dashes. This works just fine when she's preaching, but when the same text appears on her church's website, it looks like a messy tangle of words and punctuation. The hosts discuss the differences between text written for oral delivery, and text written to be read silently.Why is that annoying stuff in your email box called "spam? Grant has the answer. Here's the Monty Python skit that inspired it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwy2MPT5RE&feature=player_embeddedCan a first-time event ever be called "The First Annual" Such-and-Such? Members of a Cedar Rapids group planning a social mixer disagree.Is that snazzy new car "adorbs" or "bobo"? Grant talks about adorbs, bobo, and a few other slang terms collected by Professor Connie Eble of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.Theories about how Latin Americans came to use the term "gringo" as a disparaging word for foreigners. We can easily rule out the one about the song "Green Grow the Lilacs," but what about the rest?An insurance fraud investigator in Milwaukee wonders if he's correct to use a semicolon immediately after the word "however." Grant suggests that the word and the punctuation mark should do a do-si-do.Many of us learned the rule about using the preposition "between" when talking about two items, but among when talking about more than two. In reality, though, the rule is a little more complicated.Someone who's extremely busy may be said to be "busier than a cranberry merchant." What is it that keeps cranberry merchants so busy, anyway?--A Way with Words is a self-supporting independent production. It receives no financial support from NPR, PRI, PBS nor any radio station.Support the show with your tax deductible donation: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUMMARY We have collective nouns for animals, like "a gaggle of geese," "a pride of lions," and "an exaltation of larks." So why not collective nouns for plants? How about a "greasing of palms," or a "pursing of tulips"? Also, the difference between further and farther, the proper use of crescendo, how Shakespeare sounded in his day, and why a child's runny nose is sometimes referred to as lamb's legs.FULL DESCRIPTIONWe have collective nouns for animals, like "a gaggle of geese," "a pride of lions," and "an exaltation of larks." So why not collective nouns for plants? How about a "greasing of palms," or a "pursing of tulips"? Martha shares some others collected on the site of food writer Gary Allen.http://bit.ly/bKG1yCReverend William Archibald Spooner was known for transposing sounds, like raising a glass "to our queer old dean" instead of "to our dear old queen." A caller shares some favorite Spoonerisms.Boil up some pigs' neck bones, add some liver sausage and buckwheat, mold it in a loaf, then slice, fry, and serve with syrup. Some folks call that scrapple, but a Milwaukee woman's family calls it pannas. A listener asks: "Does the phrase "snap, crackle, and pop" need a cereal comma?"Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle about anagrams.What did Shakespeare's plays sound like in his day? An acting teacher with an interest in dialects wants to know how researchers reconstruct Elizabethan speech. A Pennsylvania college student remembers playing a game called "Whisper Down the Lane." She's surprised to learn that her fellow students call the same game "Telephone."What's the difference between further and farther?Martha shares more funny collective plant names, including a "mommy of poppies."Pity the poor typeface designer, always seeing anachronisms in movies and TV. Imagine how painful it must be watching a World War II movie, only to see a document printed in Snell Roundhand Bold, a font invented in 1972.Here's typeface expert Mark Simonson's analysis of the lettering on "Mad Men."http://bit.ly/3L4a99More about the life of font designers in the new book, Just My Type, by Simon Garfield:http://bit.ly/as5o5aSome speakers of American English use the word whenever to refer to a single event, as in "whenever Abraham Lincoln" died. This locution is a vestige of Scots-Irish speech.A professional musician maintains that many people use the word crescendo incorrectly.A father of two small children says his Indiana family referred to a child's runny nose as a "lamb's legs," as in "We need to wipe the lamb's legs off." --A Way with Words is an independent production supported by its listeners. It receives no financial support from NPR, PRI, PBS nor any radio station.Support the show with your tax deductible donation: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, a special treat: NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz stops by with a quiz about slang and anagrams. Did you know that "A Way with Words" is not produced by NPR or one of the other big radio networks? It's not even produced by a radio station. Our show is produced by a small, nonprofit organization called Wayword, Inc. In the coming year, we hope to bring you even more new episodes. Yep, that's right -- fewer reruns! But we need your help, so please click here and make your tax-deductible contribution today. Remember, it all adds up. Your donation in any amount makes it possible for us to keep producing new episodes.So, OVEN WIG and HANKY OUT! (If you need help with those anagrams, not to worry. Martha unscrambles them at the end of this episode.) --A Way with Words is an independent production supported by its listeners. It receives no financial support from NPR, PRI, PBS nor any radio station.Support the show with your tax deductible donation: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUMMARYWhat's your choice for 2010's word of the year? Mama grizzly? Starwhacker? And who could forget vuvuzela? Martha and Grant discuss the Five-Oh in Hawaii 5-0, and whether the tagline "I approve this message" is grammatical. Also, is the phrase "it is what it is" annoying or merely philosophical?FULL DETAILSWhat's your choice for the word or phrase that best captures the zeitgeist of 2010? Grant shares some of his "Word of the Year" candidates, including refudiate, mama grizzlies, starwhacker, and of course, vuvuzela.Is the TV show Hawaii Five-0 named for Ford Mustang 5.0 engines in police cruisers? No, and it's correctly typed with a zero instead of the letter "O."It is what it is. A new transplant to California has noticed this phrase popping up more and more. Where does it come from? Is it annoying or merely philosophical?Grant talks about another "Word of the Year" contender, Obamacare.Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle called "Word Ladders."After passing by an establishment featuring adult entertainment, an Asheville, N.C., man began wondering: When did the word adult come to refer to "material not suitable for children"? Political candidates end their TV ads with the statement "I approve this message." Is that ungrammatical?The internet abounds with memes. Grant explains that this word was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. More about them at Know Your Meme.http://knowyourmeme.com/Another Word of the Year candidate is immappacy, which is formed by analogy with "innumeracy," and means the inability to understand maps.A La Mesa, Calif., woman thinks the term from 1970s films, jive turkey, deserves reviving."They shot the white girl first." That's how Toni Morrison's novel, "Paradise," begins, and it's a great example of an irresistible first line. Martha shares others sent in by listeners. She also reads from a Michael Cunningham essay about why a first line must be authoritative.http://nyti.ms/cmW78EA reader of The Atlantic magazine is surprised to find that they're not capitalizing letters in headlines the way they used to. Martha argues in favor of the serial comma, citing a recent newspaper caption: "The documentary was filmed over three years. Among those interviewed were his ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall." How's that again?http://bit.ly/98XQ1rA San Diego woman says that when her baby starts crying in another room, her in-laws have a habit of saying, " Another country heard from!" This expression's roots go back to elections in the 19th century, and was originally "another county heard from."--A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUMMARYIn this week's episode, "It was bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." Martha and Grant discuss their favorite first lines from novels. Also this week, Palmer Housing, beanplating, meeting cute, bad billboard grammar, and what it means when someone says you look like a tree full of owls. And which is correct: another thing coming or another think coming?FULL DETAILSSome novels grab you from the get-go. "I am an invisible man." "Call me Ishmael." "The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting." Martha and Grant discuss some of their favorite first lines.You're falling asleep, then suddenly snap awake. There's a term for that: hypnagogic startle or hypnic jerk.A North Carolina listener reports seeing a billboard that read, "Be Stronger Connected to Your Son." Bad grammar or good advertising?When is your golden birthday? It's when your age and the date match, such as turning 23 years old on the 23rd day of the month.Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle involving inverted M's and W's called "Turn the Worm." Among many African-Americans, the term Palmer Housing means, "walking with an unusual gait." A screenwriter connects some dots in his own family's history when he asks about the origin.In the film industry, the expression meet cute refers to "an overly precious first encounter between the romantic leads." A man named Kris wants to name his son Qhristopher. Have a problem with that?Grant shares some favorite bad first lines from novels.The hosts tackle a longstanding mystery about the word shoshabong.A favorite quotation from George Eliot: "Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact."Is the correct phrase another think coming or another thing coming?Grant reveals the surprising origin of the term lunatic fringe.The term like a tree full of owls describes someone's appearance. What does it mean, exactly? And why owls?Need a great synonym for "overthinking"? Try beanplating. --A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with slang lexicographer Paul Dickson about drinking language and his book "Drunk: the Definitive Drinkers Dictionary."--A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A California college student is campaigning for international scientific authorities to adopt the slang term hella- as an official prefix indicating a huge number. Will he succeed? Also, how to pronounce niche, the regional terms doppick and nixie, the origins of towheaded and frenetic, and a phrase familiar to many African-Americans, but little-known outside that community: I couldn't buy a louse in a wrestling jacket....Whether it's bytes of data or intergalactic distances, humans are accumulating ever more massive amounts of data. But how do we use language to describe such mind-bogglingly huge numbers? There's mega, as in mega-millions, and giga, as in gigabytes, but a California college student is urging international scientific authorities to adopt hella- as a prefix to indicate a huge number: 10 to the 27th power. What are his chances for getting this slang term officially adopted as a unit of measurement?Someone who's flaxen-haired is said to be towheaded. Martha explains what kind of "tow" is involved.Here's a variant of a phrase that's familiar to many African-Americans, but virtually unknown to most others: I'm so broke I couldn't buy a louse a wrestling jacket. What's its meaning and origin? It's also heard "buy a flea a wrestling jacket" or "buy a mosquito a wrestling jacket."Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a special inspiration for this week's puzzle: His wife, author Jennifer Michael Hecht, is one of five judges for the nonfiction category of the National Book Awards. He's crafted a quiz based on some of the 500 titles in contention.http://bit.ly/dmnW2TA veterinarian in Pennsylvania Dutch Country runs into some strange terms. What's wrong with a dog that's doppick, or a cat that's nixie? What does it mean to have your animal dressed?The pronunciation of the word niche has changed over the years.Grant and Martha talk more about the challenges dictionary editors face when trying to define numbers and colors. A descendant of the legendary Hatfield family of Appalachia remembers her grandmother saying, "Wish in one hand and tacky in the other, and see which fills up first." She wonders about the origin of this advice, and what the word tacky means in this case. Here's another: If wishes were buttercake, beggars would bite.The adjectives frenetic and frantic arise from the same linguistic root, but have slightly different meanings.Grant recommends the new book, The Story of OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word by Allan Metcalf.http://bit.ly/9rSSTCWhen we agree to make a decision later, we might say we're going to play it by ear. What's the origin of that phrase?--A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired March 13, 2010.]What do you say if you have guests over and someone in your family has stray food left on the face? In some households, the secret warning is "there's a gazelle on the lawn." But why a gazelle? Also, this week: the "term for a party" to introduce one's new baby to family and friends, the past tense of the verb "to text," and why some people use three syllables when pronouncing "realtor." And did you know there's a language in which it's perfectly normal to "wash your clothes in Barf"?A recent fire in Grant's apartment building has him pondering the role played by "fire" in English idioms.A listener in Washington, D.C., says that his parents taught him that when guests were over for dinner and a family member had specks of food on his face, the polite way to surreptitiously nudge him into wiping it off was to say, "Look! There's a gazelle on the lawn." Is that unique to his family?Martha shares a great automotive Tom Swifty sent in by a listener.What do you call a party that new parents throw to introduce a baby to family and friends? Kiss-and-cry? Try "sip-and-see."Here's the kind of riddle they were telling more than a century ago: "The lazy schoolboy hates my name, yet eats me every day. But those who seek scholastic fame to hunt me never delay."Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a word quiz about words and phrases that have two sets of a double letter. Here's an example with a one-word answer: "The place where you learn 'the three R's.'"A Tallahassee listener hates it when realtors pronounce the name of their profession "REAL-a-tor." Why do they do that?What's the proper past tense of the word "text"? Texted or text?Martha tries to stump Grant with another Tom Swifty, this one nautical in nature.The phrases "Well, I swan!" and "Well, I swannee!" are genteel substitutes for swearing. Where do those phrases come from?Martha shares listener email about linguistic "false friends," those perplexing words in other languages that look like English words, but mean something completely different. A case in point is the detergent popular in the Middle East called "Barf," the name of which happens to be the Farsi word for "snow." Skeptical? Behold: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elmada/254689286/ !Dry a grape and it becomes a raisin, dry a plum and it turns into a prune. Why don't we just call them dried grapes and dried plums?Parents sometimes refer to their rascally kids as "honyocks." Where'd we get a word like that?Another riddle: "Why is 'O; the noisiest of all the vowels?"What's the difference between a lexicographer, a linguist, and a wordsmith?--A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired February 20, 2010.]This week, it's the language of politics. Martha and Grant discuss two handy terms describing politicians: "far center" and "snollygoster." Also, a presidential word puzzle, "false friends," "spendthrifts," and a long list of "17th-century insults." So listen up, all you "flouting milksops," "blockish grutnols," and "slubberdegullions"! Grant explains the meaning of the new slang term "far center," and Martha tries to revive an antiquated term meaning "a corrupt politician," "snollygoster."Careful about how you spend your money? Then you're said to be "thrifty." So why is someone who isn't frugal called a "spendthrift"?"Pommy" is an often derogatory nickname used by Australians for the English. Does it come from an acronym for either "Prisoner of Mother England" or "Prisoner of Her Majesty"? The more likely story has to do with "sunburn and pomegranates."An older woman with a knack for finding older men to date? That's what you call someone with excellent "graydar."Speaking of politics, Quiz Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle featuring the names of U.S. presidents.Beware of "false friends," those words that don't translate the way you'd expect. For example, the word "gift" in German means "poison," and the Spanish word "tuna" means "the fruit of the prickly pear cactus." These tricky lookalikes are also called "faux amis."Is the term "refer back" redundant? Martha reports that listeners have been trying to help a caller http://www.waywordradio.org/down-a-chimney-up/ remember a word for someone who's exceptionally good at packing things in a confined space. She thinks she's found a winner: "stevedore."To keep something "at bay" means to maintain a safe distance from it. But does this expression derive from an old practice of using bay leaves to ward off pestilence?A Tallahassee caller wonders about the name for "terms that are capitalized in the middle," like MasterCard and FedEx. Grant explains that they're commonly called "CamelCase," not to be confused with "Studly Caps."Grant shares some slang he's found while exploring the game of "Skee-Ball," including to "hit the hundo."The hosts and a listener in Grand Rapids, Michigan, trade some 17th-century insults. For more, check out these references: Gargantua http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gargantua/Chapter_XXV and George Albert Nicholson's English Words With Native Roots And With Greek, Latin, Or Romance Suffixes .--A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired February 13, 2010.] Whoever wrote "The Book of Love" neglected to include the handy emoticon <3, which looks like a heart if you turn your head sideways. Grant and Martha talk about how that bit of affectionate shorthand can function as a verb, and about the antiquated words for kiss, "osculate" and "exosculate." A Houston woman says her family makes fun of her for saying "waste not, want not." Does this proverb make literal sense? BTDubs, a San Diego caller notices that more of her co-workers are "talking in text," saying things like "BRB" instead of "be right back" or "JK" instead of "just kidding!" Is it a passing fad, or a new way of speaking? Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah... MmmmmWAH! Martha shares the "German verb that means to plant one last kiss" in a series of them. Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a fill-in-the-blank limerick puzzle, including: There was once a coed named Clapper In psychology class quite a napper. But her Freudian dreams Were so classic it seems That now she's a __________________. "I feel more like I do now than I did a while ago." The hosts discuss that and other examples of self-referential humor, like "Before I begin speaking, I'd like to say something." A woman having an affair with a married man is a mistress. So what's the word for an unmarried man who's having an affair with a married woman? Consort? Leman? Martha shares the famous passage from the poem by Catullus http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e5.htmthat begins, "Give me a thousand kisses..." Grant reads an excerpt from the 1883 volume, "The Love Poems of Louis Barnaval," by Charles de Kay http://bit.ly/aqMZ0G . What's the difference between a second cousin and a cousin once removed? Here's a helpful chart from Genealogy.com http://www.genealogy.com/16_cousn.html. What did the boy volcano say to the girl volcano? A caller from Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, wonders about the origin of "knock on wood." The hosts do, too. More about the unusual language of Ocracoke here http://www.waywordradio.org/how-about-a-game-of-meehonkey/. What's a "scissorbill"? A bird? A hog? And how did its name get transferred to refer to anyone who's lazy or ineffectual? -- A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donate Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Most Beautiful Words in the English Language: "Cellar Door"?It's been said that the most beautiful combination of words in English is "cellar door." But why? By the way, after this caller raised the question, Grant did even more digging on the topic. The result: He wrote a whole article about it that appeared in The New York Times. http://nyti.ms/bkqwpg--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it y'all's? Y'alls? Y'alls's? What do all ya'll think?--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Texas listener came across the word "Boche" in a biography of a French statesman, and wants to know: What does it mean, exactly?--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired December 5, 2009.]In high school, no one thinks twice about cheering for the Fighting Trojans or the Tigers. But what about the Hickman Kewpies http://service.columbia.k12.mo.us/hhs/about/? Or the Maryville Spoofhounds http://www.maryville.k12.mo.us/? Martha and Grant talk about some of the odder names for school athletic teams. Also, in this episode: If you're queasy, are you "nauseous" or "nauseated"? How do you pronounce the word "sorry"? And why do conservative Democrats call themselves "Blue Dogs"?Grant and Martha discuss strange names for high school sports teams. Know another example? Talk about it in the forum http://www.waywordradio.org/discussion/.How do you pronounce the word "sorry"? SORE-ee? SAHR-ee? A Connecticut woman says her family pronounces this word four different ways, and is hoping her way is correct.Is there a name for those vocal sound we make when shrugging our shoulders or wordlessly affirming something with an "mm-hm"? Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle called "There's An App For That." The challenge is to guess what new word is formed by tacking the letters A-P-P on to another one. For example, what new word appears when you add A-P-P to the word that means "a soothing balm or salve." How'd we get the term "colorblind," and when it did come to be mean "indifferent to race"? "Really???" Really! A college student in Provo, Utah, says he's hearing this expression of sarcastic incredulity more and more—even catching himself saying this to his cellphone when it dropped a call. He suspects it comes from "Saturday Night Live." Does it? Really? Here's a great example of that show's use of the expression. A Connecticut cop says his dad, a retired professor of English and comparative literature at Yale, has been reading his son's police reports. They disagree about whether "complainant" is a legitimate word, or whether it should be "complainer."Here's a riddle: "I'm weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I'll make it lighter. What am I?" Martha has the answer.Grant shares online sites that can help you solve a difficult crossword puzzle"or anagram words to help you get the highest scores in Scrabble. WordNavigator http://wordnavigator.com/ and Wordsmith.org's anagram server http://wordsmith.org/anagram/.A veteranian says her colleague insists that "nauseous" means "contagious." Is that right? And if you're queasy, are you "nauseous" or "nauseated"?A Burlington, Vt. man says his mother and grandmother used the expression "journey proud" to denote being restless, nervous, or excited, especially on the eve of an upcoming trip."I'll be there at three-ish." "That shirt is bluish." "It wasn't a house—but it was house-ish." OK, but what in the world does "ish" mean, exactly?Conservative Democrats are sometimes called "Blue Dog Democrats." Grant explains why. Check out the work of George Rodrigue http://www.georgerodrigue.com/, the Blue Dog artist.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you pronounce this word that means someone's "strong suit"? And what does it have to do with fencing?--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Um, are you, like, one of those people who, um, get, like, really annoyed, by, um, you know, like, um, lots of filler words in, you know, like, conversation? If it's any comfort, there's a great term for this. Can you say "embololalia"? --A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first of two podcasts this week includes a special message to "A Way with Words" podcast listeners. Also, Martha answers a listener's email about the term "sea change." Or is it "C change"?--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anagrams, rebuses, cryptograms -- Martha and Grant swap stories about the games that first made them realize that playing with words and letters can be fun. Also this week, what's a jitney supper and where do you eat graveyard stew? The hosts explain the origin of the term hang fire and why Alaskans sound like they're from the Midwest, and take on a debate about whether an egregious falsehood is a bald-faced lie or a bold-faced lie.What games first made you realize that words and letters make great playthings? Martha describes puzzling, as a child, over the odd combination of letters, F-U-N-E-X, until she finally figured out the joke. Grant talks about discovering anagrams as a youngster, and how word puzzles in the newspaper became a daily ritual.An office worker in Indianapolis is mystified when a British colleague sends an email telling her to hang fire. It has to do with faulty firearms. "Call up to 24 hours in advance to make a reservation." Do those instructions mean you can call until 24 hours before the deadline, or that you should call within 24 hours of it? When a San Diego listener assumed it was the former, she was surprised to be wrong. Did you know the POTUS (President of the United States) has a BOTUS? Grant explains what a BOTUS is.Quiz Guy Greg Pliska's word game this week is "Name Dropping." The answer for each set of clues will be a word that has a common first name hidden somewhere in it; when that name's removed, the remaining letters spell a new word. For example, the first clue is "one of the seven deadly sins," the second is "the grain consumed by one-fifth of the world's inhabitants." Subtract the latter from the former, and you get a woman's name.A Charlottesville, Virginia, caller says that when she was a child and recovering from an illness, her mother fed her a kind of milk toast she called graveyard stew. Is that strange name unique to her family?During the health care debate in Congress, there was lots of talk about an up-or-down vote. A Montana listener finds this expression annoying. What's wrong with plain old "vote"?In youth slang, "totes" is short for "totally." Grant talks about new, lengthened version of this slang shortening.A Carlsbad, California, couple has a running debate over whether an egregious whopper is correctly called a bold-faced lie or a bald-faced lie.The Library of Congress is archiving the entire content of Twitter. Grant explains why that's a gold mine for language researchers like David Bamman at Tufts University. You can see some of the results Bamman's compiled at Lexicalist.com.http://www.lexicalist.com/What do you eat at a jitney supper? Jitney?Why do people from Alaska sound like they're from the Midwest?A caller who grew up in Arkansas says his mother used a colorful expression instead of "mind your own business," which was "tend to your own rat-killing."--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, it's backhanded phrases, those snarky remarks that come sugar-coated in politeness, like "How nice for you," "Oh, interesting!" and the mother of all thinly veiled criticism, "Bless her heart." Also this week, free reign vs. free rein, the origin of the one-finger salute, and what it means if a Frenchman has big ankles. And "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings stops by to try his hand at a slang quiz.You've been on the receiving end of backhanded phrases, and admit it, you've used them, too. A discussion on Ask Metafilter http://ask.metafilter.com/133910/Bless-your-heart-and-other-backhanded-phrases prompts Grant and Martha to talk about the ways people use sugar-coated snark. By the way, if you want a fancy word for veiled criticisms like "bless her heart" and "let me know how that works out," it's "charientism," from a Greek word that means "the expression of an unpleasant thing in an agreeable manner."Is it free reign or free rein? Ruling or riding?The "back forty" refers to a remote area of a large piece of land. Grant has the origin of that phrase.What do English bowmen, the French, and lopped-off digits have to do with the classic middle-finger insult? Absolutely nothing. A San Diego truck driver wonders about the true origin of the one-finger salute. There's a great debunking of the English archers story here: http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp.Quiz Guy John Chaneski says he's been visiting some "niche" high schools, all of which have the word "High" in them, maybe in reverse of a standard phrase. How about this one: "The school where they study phantoms, ghosts, and apparitions." That would be "Spirits High."A caller who grew up in Australia has a question about wedding-invitation etiquette in the U.S. She wonders: Shouldn't an invitation refer to a daughter's "marriage with" the groom rather than a "marriage to" him?A man who works nights in a mortuary in Brookings, Oregon is curious about the origin of--what else?--"graveyard shift." Quick, picture a berry: Is it blue? Red? Then where'd we get the English expression "brown as a berry"?It's "Slang for $500." All-time "Jeopardy!" Champion Ken Jennings tackles his next logical challenge, the "A Way with Words" slang quiz. Ken puzzles over the meaning of "brummagem" and "pluck of a pig," and tries to guess an usual meaning for the term daylight. More about Ken at his website, www.ken-jennings.com http://www.ken-jennings.com/index.html.In many neighborhoods, the night before Halloween is the night when pranksters run around wreaking all kinds of mischief--toilet-papering houses, spraying windows with shaving cream, ringing doorbells and then running away. A Connecticut woman remembers calling that night "Goosey Night," and is surprised when friends call it "Mischief Night." In fact, that prankfest goes by lots of other names, including "Corn Night," "Picket Night," and "Devil Night."In English, we say that someone who's egotistical has a "big head." But in French, according to a caller, the person is said to have "big ankles." Why ankles?Grant shares a "quirklum." --A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who was that masked man? Was it the Barefoot Bandit, the Mummy Bandit, or perhaps the Botox Bandit? Or maybe it was the Bad-Breath Bandit? The hosts discuss the wacky names that law enforcement officers give to suspects. Also, what's a pickle button? Why do we say be there or be square? And what does the word seditty mean in the African-American community?A news story about the Ho-Hum Bandit has Grant musing about the odd names that law enforcement officers give to criminals at large, usually based on their appearance or behavior, like the Barefoot Bandit, the Mummy Bandit. Or how about the Bad Breath Bandit?Where do we get the phrase be there or be square?What's seditty? Many African-Americans use this term, also spelled saddidy, to mean "stuck-up." A caller's heard it all his life, and is curious about the word.Grant has a riddle: "I never was, am always to be, no one ever saw me or ever will, and yet I am the confidence of all to live and breathe on this terrestrial ball. What am I?"Quiz Guy Greg Pliska offers a colorful variation on his ever-popular "Odd Man Out" puzzle. In this series, for example, which one doesn't belong: Imperial, Shasta, Kings, and Orange. A caller from the coastal town of La Jolla, California, is sure he's heard a word for bright pools of silver light that form on the surface of the ocean when sunbeams poke down through cloud cover. Albedo http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/albedo, maybe? Coruscation http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coruscation? How about sunglade http://books.google.com/books?id=93UKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA341&dq=sunglade&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3&ei=2nflS7DHH4amlQSBwcjkCQ&cd=15#v=onepage&q=sunglade&f=false?Why in the world would two people part from each other saying, "Abyssinia!" "Ethiopia!"? The hosts clear up the mystery.Martha shares a puzzle sent in by a listener: "What's the longest word typed on the left hand's half of the keyboard?" Hint: It's the plural of a now-outmoded occupational term.A lagniappe is a little something extra that a merchant might toss in for a customer, like a complimentary ball-point pen. What's the origin of that word?Grant argues that new commercial categories of literature, which include poop fiction, chick lit, K-mart realism, and tart noir resemble the kind of fracturing that already occurred in the music world. Here's the blog entry that got him started http://thewritingresource.net/2010/04/06/weekly-vocab-builder-new-lit-types/.What exactly do you mean when you use the words couple, few, and several? Do they conjure specific numbers? The hosts disagree. A retired Air Force officer says he's never wondered until recently why the button that pilots push to drop bombs is called the pickle button, and to "pickle off" the bomb means to drop it.Grant reveals another riddle: It's the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end, and the end of every place. What is it?A Scrabble game sparks a debate between a college student and her English-teacher sister. Which is correct: stupider or more stupid?--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired October 17, 2009.]Some teachers are using a controversial tactic to get young students reading: They let their 'pupils choose which books to read' for class. Does it work? Also, should that line at the grocery store checkout read 15 items or 'less or fewer'? And is the expression 'these ones' grammatically incorrect?The owner of a yarn store in Juneau says a customer corrected her when she pointed out a special collection of buttons and said, 'You should check out these ones.' Is it incorrect to say 'these ones' instead of just 'these'?A Syracuse woman wonders how 'bread and butter pickles' got their name.What do you call that jarring sensation when you see a radio personality for the first time, and he looks nothing like what you expected? The hosts talked about it in a past episode http://www.waywordradio.org/bogarting-bangers/. Listeners responded with more words for this phenomenon.Quiz Guy John Chaneski was rummaging around the 'A Way with Words' Lost and Found Department, and returned with a 'quiz' based on lost items and their owners.The sign over the checkout lane says '15 Items or Less.' A listener is adamant that it should say '15 Items or Fewer.'A Texas listener recounts an ongoing debate in her family's kitchen over the exact 'definition of the word spatula.' Is it the kitchen tool used to spread icing and level measuring cups? Something you use to flip a pancake? That item with the plastic handle and the rubber blade for scraping a bowl? When she gets together with the in-laws to cook, the caller says, the request 'Hand me a spatula' leads to confusion. In Philadelphia, the expression the 'big mahoff,' means 'a bigshot,' as in 'Who do you think you are, the big mahoff?' But just what is a mahoff?A 'shivaree,' also spelled 'charivari,' is a raucous, good-natured hazing for newlyweds. A discussion here http://www.waywordradio.org/words-with-k-in-them-are-funny/ about that word prompted lots of listeners to write in with their own stories about shivarees. Martha shares some of them.In Britain, Canada, and some other English-speaking countries, the last letter of the alphabet is 'not zee, but zed.' A caller who grew up in Guyana wonders why.Sure, the present tense of sneak is easy, but what about the past? Is it 'sneaked or snuck'?A law student wonders about the origin of the word 'widget.'Is the word 'financial pronounced' with a long I in the first syllable?There's a story going around that the word 'posh' derives from 'Port Out, Starboard Home.' 'Don't fall for it.'--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners:http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

South African English is a rich mix of Afrikaans, English, and indigenous languages such as Zulu and Xhosa. Martha and Grant discuss some favorite terms from that part of the world, including lekker, diski, and ubuntu. Also, where'd we get the term hurt locker and why do we say 'pardon my French' after cursing? What's the difference between supposedly and supposably? And is having a vast vocabulary filled with obscure words really all that important?Looking ahead to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/, Martha and Grant discuss some terms you might hear there. By the way, here's where you can learn that South African diski dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fML326GXJPY.Why do we say 'pardon my French' after cursing?A Dallas listener says he was confused at first when a friend from rural North Dakota reported coming home and finding a moose in his kitchen. Only later did he learn what difference the so-called 'Canadian raising.'Quiz Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle about the Oxcar awards, given to fictitious films, the names of which differ by just one letter from the names of the real 2010 Best Picture Oscar nominees. Here's one such plot: 'George Clooney plays a corporate downsizer who avoids close personal relationships by spending his time climbing evergreen trees.'Which adverb is usually correct: supposably or supposedly?What's a round-heeled woman?The 2010 winner of the 'Best Picture' Oscar has a Seattle woman wondering about the term hurt locker. Ben Zimmer wrote about it recently in his column at the Visual Thesaurus http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2195/ and we talk about it, too.And here's the searing poem by Brian Turner called 'The Hurt Locker http://www.fishousepoems.org/archives/brian_turner/the_hurt_locker.shtml120.'The hosts discuss Ammon Shea's recent New York Times Magazine column http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/magazine/14FOB-onlanguage-t.html about whether a large vocabulary filled with obscure and unusual words is all that necessary. A medical transcriptionist who majored in English reports that her co-workers are squabbling over a sentence: 'The patient was brought to the operating room, and laid supine on the operating-room table.'Martha shares a listener's email about a pet's name changing over time. In this case, it's a cat whose name morphed from 'Orange Juice' all the way to 'Lanny.' Martha traces the con-cat-enation of monikers.A Texas nurse says she's often teased about her last name, which happens to be 'Newby.' She wonders if she should change it and how long the term newbie has been around.Is it ever correct to refer to a mustache as a plural?Martha shares another email about the evolution of a pet's name, in this case a dog whose original name was Dumpster. Now the pooch is named after the 19th president of the United States. Sort of.--'A Way with Words' is supported by its listeners. Donate today:http://www.waywordradio.org/donate/Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]:United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired October 10, 2009.]Do you say something happened on accident or by accident? Is text-messaging is destroying our kids' writing ability? Where do horseradish, zark, and ignoramus come from?Grant and Martha discuss a new collection of college slang compiled by UCLA linguistics professor Pamela Munro. Learn more about it and order a copy here.A Burlington, Vt. caller wants to know: Is horseradish so named because of this root's strong resemblance to part of a horse's anatomy?The word zarf means 'a metal cupholder,' but a Scrabble enthusiast says other players always challenge his use of that word. He wants to know its origin.What word in the English language is an anagram of itself? Hint: It's a trick question.Puzzle Dude John Chaneski has a quiz about the unofficial terms for familiar things that have less familiar official names. 'The Academy Awards of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,' for example, are unofficially called the Oscars. So what's the unofficial name for what's officially known as Chomolungma?If you use the expression on accident rather than by accident, it probably says less about where you live and more about how old you are.Is there a word in the English language that means 'to read by candlelight'? A listener in Kittery Point, Maine, used to read the dictionary every night as a teenager and came across such a word. She's been racking her brain to remember it.An Orange County, California, listener describes how both his left-handed parents were forced as children to learn to write with their non-dominant hand. Their handwriting looked unusual, to say the least. Grant discusses myths about handedness and recommends the book Handwriting in America: A Cultural History by Tamara Thornton. By the way, if you're looking for the word that means 'written toward the left,' it's levographic.Here's a bit of campus slang accompanied by a hand gesture: awkward turtle. Grant explains what it means and how it's used. Need a visual?Text-messaging is destroying our kids' ability to write, right? Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.In a few parts of the country, such as eastern Wisconsin, the more common term for 'water fountain' is Text-messaging is destroying our kids' ability to write. A man who heard the term frequently in Rhode Island wonders: How did bubbler make it all the way over to Rhode Island, but seemingly skip the states in between?The story behind the word ignoramus is big fun. It involves a bumbling lawyer, a six-hour farce from the 17th century, and a Latin legal term. See? Big fun.If you need proof that language is powerful, here's some. Researchers at Cornell recently reported that kids are more likely to eat their veggies if they're told the food has enticing names like 'X-ray Vision Carrots' and 'Dinosaur Broccoli Trees.' Wonder how big a grant the researchers got to study what every parent already knows.Did you learn the vowels as 'a,' 'e,' 'i,' 'o' 'u,' and sometimes 'y' and 'w'? A caller who was taught that in second grade was left wondering: When and where does 'w' function as a vowel?--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: [email protected]: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the right way to pronounce gyros? Have you ever heard of feeling poozley? Called something great a blinger? Use the expression one-off to mean a "one-time thing"? 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Write it Right One hundred years ago, American journalist and satirist Ambrose Bierce published a curmudgeonly book of writing advice called Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. In her new book, Boston Globe language columnist Jan Freeman explains where Bierce got his ideas about language, how his grammatical convictions compared with those of his contemporaries, and what they teach us about English today. The book is Ambrose Bierce's Write It Right: The Celebrated Cynic's Language Peeves Deciphered, Appraised, and Annotated for 21st-Century Readers. Recently, Freeman talked with Grant about Bierce and his cranky advice for speaking and writing well. http://www.amazon.com/Ambrose-Bierces-Write-Right-21st-Century/dp/0802717683 You can read much more by Jan Freeman (and we recommend that you do) in the archives of her columns in the Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/jan_freeman/ -- "A Way with Words" is made of paper: drop a few bills in the donation jar today: http://www.waywordradio.org/donate/ . Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know that grammatical 'rule' about not ending a sentence with a preposition? Well, who ever decided finishing off a sentence like that is a bad thing? (Personally, we think it's one of the silliest things anyone ever came up with.) In his new book, The Lexicographer's Dilemma The Evolution of 'Proper' English, from Shakespeare to South Park, literary historian Jack Lynch offers a lively narrative about the evolution of such rules, starting in the 17th century, when grammar books were more like self-help guides for the upwardly mobile. He introduces us to the flesh-and-blood (and almost always quirky) grammarians and dictionary editors who created and popularized traditional rules that people still argue about today. Recently Lynch talked with Martha about why and how some of those rules came to be. http://www.amazon.com/Lexicographers-Dilemma-Evolution-English-Shakespeare/dp/0802717004/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_1 Incidentally, Lynch, an associate professor of English at Rutgers University, has published his own helpful guide to grammar and usage online. http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/ -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grant interviews 'Jeopardy!' champion Ken Jennings about the grueling nature of TV quiz shows, the fine art of writing trivia questions, the special challenges of competing in European quiz contests, and how it feels to answer incorrectly. You can hear him try to puzzle out the answer to our slang quiz in this episode. http://www.waywordradio.org/bless-your-heart/ Find out more about Ken here. http://www.ken-jennings.com/index.html -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode originally aired February 9, 2008.] In this week's episode: Just how far back could you go and still understand the English people were speaking? We crank up our trusty time machine to find out. Hint: You'd probably have a tough time getting around in the eighth century, when English poetry looked like: 'Hwaet we gardena in geardagum...' Speaking of the more recent past: When you played hide-and-seek as a child, did you yell 'Ollie, Ollie Oxen Free'? Or 'Ally Ally in Free'? Or maybe 'Ally Ally Ump Free'? 'Ole Ole Olsen Free'? Or something else? A caller in Montevideo, Uruguay, is curious about the origin of such nonsensical phrases. It's the Moby Dick of etymology: 'Where do we get the phrase the whole nine yards?' A pediatrician in North Carolina wonders if it derives from a World War II phrase involving 'nine yards' of ammunition. Grant and Martha discuss the many theories about this expression. Martha and Grant discuss 'squeejawed' and other strange terms that mean 'crooked,' or 'askew,' including 'slanchwise,' 'whompy-jawed,' 'lopper-jawed,' 'antigogglin,' 'sigogglin,' and 'catawampus.' Puzzle Guy Greg Pliska presents a letter game called 'Dandy Dyads.' A woman wonders about a phrase from her past: 'I'm going to beat you like a red-headed stepchild.' Martha and Grant discuss 'gingerism,' or prejudice against redheads. A New York babysitter says the English language needs a word to replace the clunky phrase, 'the kids I babysit.' The hosts try to help her find one. 'Charges'? 'Child associates'? 'Padawans'? This week's 'Slang This!' contestant, a professor of medieval history at the University of Santa Cruz, tries to guess the meaning of the slang terms 'quizzam' and 'snirt.' A native speaker of Spanish has a hard time with prepositions in English. (Why do we say that someone's 'on my mind' but 'in my heart'? A listener in York, England wonders about the word 'grockles,' a derogatory term for tourists. On an earlier episode we talked about regional differences involving the words 'dinner' and 'supper,' prompting a whole smorgasbord of responses. Grant reads a few of them on the air. -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired January 12, 2008.] In this week's episode, Martha and Grant discuss not-to-be-believed articles about language from the satirical newspaper The Onion, including one headlined 'Underfunded Schools Forced to Cut Past Tense from Language Programs.' By the way, did you ever notice how ONION is ZO-ZO if you tilt your head to the right? A caller has a friendly disagreement with a pal: Is the expression 'tide me over' or 'tie me over'? Hint: The answer she gets should tide her over. If a dictator dictates, and an aviator aviates, then does a commentator 'commentate'? A caller complains that this last word gives him the willies. Does an alligator alligate? A middle-schooler who's reading 'Anne of Green Gables' is puzzled by a mention of 'breakfast, dinner, and supper.' She wants to know if the words 'dinner' and 'lunch' really interchangeable. The fur flies when Greg Pliska unleashes a word puzzle involving the names of animals. Also speaking of animals, an immigrant from India recounts his confusion the first time he heard the expression 'I'm going to go see a man about a horse.' How in did that become a euphemism for 'I'm going to go to the bathroom'? A former West Virginian reports that she grew up hearing a strange word: 'charny.' In her part of the country, she says, it means 'dirty' or 'filthy,' and she always heard it pronounced 'chee-YAR-nee.' This week's Slang This! contestant, a comic-book illustrator from Providence, R.I., tries to guess the meaning of the expressions 'hat-catcher' and 'to go shucks.' What IS the longest word in the English language? 'Antidisestablishmentarianism'? 'Floccinaucinihilipilification'? Or 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,' maybe? Martha and Grant discuss such sesquipedalian contenders for the title of Longest English Word. Where do you put those exclamation points and question marksâdo they go inside or outside the quotation marks? Can you say, 'We have the answer!'? Confused about whether 'biweekly' means 'twice a week' or 'twice a month'? Martha rants about why the using the words 'biweekly' and 'bimonthly' at all is a bad idea, period. Grant shares listener email about the origin and meaning of the term 'g-job.' -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2009, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Enough about the 'Word of the Year.' How about the 'Word of the Decade'? Bailout? Google? Martha and Grant discuss some candidates. Also in this episode, does speaking a different language make you feel different emotion'? What did Don Draper on 'Mad Men' mean when he called Betty a 'Main Line brat'? And why do we talk about 'throwing someone under the bus'? Where'd we get the expression 'mind your p's and q's'? A Barcelona native wants help understanding exactly what it means, and shares a few other English idioms that caught her up short. A die-hard fan of television's 'Mad Men' is puzzled when Don calls Betty a 'Main Line brat.' Grant's been collecting contenders for 2009's 'Word of the Year,' including 'Dracula sneeze,' 'Government Motors,' and...'unumbium'? Quiz Guy John Chaneski sums up the events of 2009 in the form of limericks, all with a blank to be filled. Here's one: NASA really put on a great show A new lunar crater did blow To the glee of mankind The rocket did find That the moon contains much __________. A dogsledder in Vermont wonders why he and his fellow mushers direct their furry packs by shouting 'gee' for 'right' and 'haw' for 'left.' If you ask a salesclerk for change in the form of a 'case quarter,' what are you asking for? An upstate New York woman says her British husband makes fun of her for saying 'lookit!' Does speaking a particular language make you feel certain emotions? The hosts talk about a blog post http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/a-language-of-smiles/ by evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson musing about whether this might be true. A woman from Indianapolis is trying to convince her grandmother that it's okay for restaurant servers to refer to both male and female customers as you guys. Grandma says it's sexist. Our caller maintains it's fine, drawing an analogy with Spanish, where the masculine pronoun 'ellos' encompasses both sexes. Why do we describe the sudden abandonment of someone as 'throwing him under the bus'? A Dallas man says his grandmother used to carry around washcloth a plastic bag in her purse. When he and his siblings would get their hands dirty, she'd say to them, 'Show me your 'paddywackers,''' and they'd hold out their hands to be wiped clean. He wonders if she made up the word 'paddywhacker.' Two more expressions that characterized 2009: 'El Stiffo' and 'drive like a Cullen.' -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2009, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired May 10, 2008.] We all misspeak from time to time, but how about when we mangle words on purpose? Do you ever say 'fambly' instead of family, 'perazackly' for exactly, or 'coinkydink' for coincidence? When Grant recently wrote a newspaper column about saying things wrong on purpose, the response was enormous. Why is it that many people find such wordplay hard to resist? We consider this question and share their own favorite examples. A Pennsylvania minister is curious about a phrase her family uses: 'by way of Robin Hood's barn' or 'around Robin Hood's barn,' meaning a long, circuitous route. How do you pronounce the architectural term 'beaux arts'? (Yep, Grant accidentally left of the final S when he spelled the term on the air.) Is it pronounced 'boh-ZART,' 'boh-ART,' 'boh-ZAR,' or 'boh-ZARTS'? We settle a dispute between a New Jersey woman and her nephew. Martha shares the winners of a contest for Best Book Titles of the Year. Or would that be Oddest Book Titles of the Year? Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle in which we remove the first letter of a phrase to yield another with a different meaning. Try one: originally it was a boxing film starring Robert De Niro. Now it describes a head of cattle that's perhaps getting on in years. A Wisconsin woman is trying to remember 'a term for paths in the grass created by pedestrians taking shortcuts.' Grant has an answer for her, straight from the jargon of urban planning professionals. The caller also wants 'recommendations for a good thesaurus.' The hosts' response may surprise you. A caller is curious about a slang term she hears from her friends in the military. The word is 'Jody,' and it means someone who steals a soldier's girlfriend. Grant tells the colorful story behind this bit of military slang, as well as the songs it inspired. Here's a sample of Jody calls from the Vietnam war and from the Korean War. Grant and Martha share more intentional mispronunciations, including 'tar-ZHAY' instead of Target. This week's Slang This! contestant is not just any word nerd. She's Dorothea Gillim, creator of the animated PBS series WordGirl. Dorothea tries to guess the meaning of the odd terms 'pelican crossing' and 'zanjero.' The new season of WordGirl starts Monday, May 26th, and airs Mondays through Fridays. What is 'janky'? A Chattanooga caller uses it describe something inferior or bad. A Wisconsin man wonders about the use of the term 'big box store' to denote the stores of big retail chains like Wal-Mart. Is 'big box' a reference to the size and shape of the stores, or the fact that they sell huge appliances that come in, well, big boxes? Here's a silly song from JibJab about bix box stores. A Pittsburgh man is bothered by people who would say someone wrote an 'outraged letter.' Can a letter really be angry and indignant or is it really the writer who's upset? Martha answers his question and seizes the opportunity to talk about the four-syllable word, 'hypallage.' -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2009, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another minicast from A Way with Words. I'm Martha Barnette. You may remember the call we had from Tony in Encinitas, California. He was curious about the term for an unusual hazing ritual: My dad woke us up one night, about 8 o'clock. He said don't be alarmed. There's going to be gunfire and a lot of noise, and there's going to be a lot of people in the house and there's going to be a party. This is probably late spring. And lo and behold, next thing we knew there were trucks driving up and women coming in with food and we heard people shooting off guns and men doing what men do. It was a giant party. And I said, 'Daddy what is this?' He said, 'It's a shivaree.' Well, it turns out that shivarees aren't that unusual after all. Or at least, a lot of you have had experiences with these raucous surprise parties for newlyweds. Amanda from Livingston, Montana says that shivarees were quite common when she was growing up in rural western South Dakota in 1960's and 70's. 'They usually took place long enough after the wedding that the happy couple had let down their guard,' she writes. 'The revelers would turn up late in the evening in a noisy caravan and take over the house, rousing the hosts out of bed. Good-natured chaos ensued; shortsheeting beds, sprinkling cornflakes in the beds, and tearing the labels off the canned goods in the cupboards while the hosts were distracted by entertaining the crowd. It was a fun, harmless way to welcome the new couple into the community of adults.' Guess that's one way to do it. We got another email from John. He's a dairy farmer in Eleva, Wisconsin. At the age of 40, John took his sweetheart took a trip to Colorado. While there, they ended up getting married. 'Upon our return,' he writes, 'as news of our marriage leaked out, the farming community felt that they were deprived of a party. And thus plans for a shivaree were hatched. 'It happened in the early evening, after the milking chores had been done, on the night of a blue moon in August, 1985. A stream of pick-up trucks and cars paraded up our 3/4 mile-long driveway. In the back of some trucks were men shooting guns. In another, two men held a large lumber mill saw blade between them on a piece of pipe, striking it as if it were a large cymbal. 'After the initial shock wore off, I asked what was expected of me. The reply was that a quick trip to town was in order for cold beer for the men who lounged outside in the cool summer night air. Meanwhile the women took over the house and set up a buffet meal. 'The guests provided everything, from the table cloth, food service ware, napkins, coffee pot ready to plug in, food of all sort, and gifts to celebrate our marriage. After a memorable evening the women cleaned up and took with them all trash and evidence of the event. 'And again, Evelyn and I were left in the splendid evening of a blue moon in Wisconsin, our hearts filled with gratitude for the warmth and camaraderie of a small farming community.' Not to mention for the women doing all the cooking and cleaning, right? Well, we appreciate the warmth and camaraderie of our virtual community of language lovers, and we're glad you're a part of it. We hope you'll drop us at line any you have language on your mind. That address is [email protected]. Or pop by our discussion forum. That's at waywordradio.org/discussion. -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2009, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you ever use a tilly ticket in the bathroom? Over the years, we've answered lots of your questions about words and phrases that have to do with going to the bathroom. We've talked about euphemisms like I have to go see a man about a horse. Or that Victorian-era locution, I'm going to go pluck a rose. Or my favorite: I'm going to visit Miss White. We've also talked about the origin of biffy, a word for outdoor facilities. And we discussed how the word john may have become synonymous with that bathroom destination. But recently we received an email that has me puzzled. It's from Marge in Chula Vista, California. She writes: 'My brother and I have been reminiscing about our childhood, spent in an old house in New Hampshire, during World War II. My mother always called toilet paper Tilly Tickets.' She continues: 'We don't have a clue where that expression came from. Our memory was that when we were out of Tilly Tickets, we used the old scratchy patterns -- the kind used for sewing.' Eeeeuw. Well, her question made me squirm, and not just at the thought of using an old McCall's pattern. I have to admit I'm stumped. 'Tilly Tickets'? So I'm hoping you can help. Ever hear toilet paper called 'Tilly Tickets'? If so, did you ever hear a story to explain that name? Let us know. Our email address is [email protected]. One more thing: I want to share something I discovered while trying to find out about Tilly Tickets. You may recall that we've talked about the word lagniappe. It's a term you're more likely to hear in the Gulf States, especially in southern Louisiana. It means 'a little something extra,' a little freebie that a vendor tosses in. A free keychain from your mechanic, or a calendar from a realtor--those are lagniappes. Well, it turns out that in Ireland, and parts of Newfoundland, they don't call it a lagniappe. They call it a tilly. I don't think this type of tilly has anything to do with Tilly Tickets. Just a little extra something I thought I'd toss in. Anyway, drop us a line if you know anything about Tilly Tickets. Hope you enjoyed this little tilly. If you like what you hear and learn, please consider a donation to our program. Thank you! -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2009, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices