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

Puzzle Guys John Chaneski and Greg Pliska team up to make double trouble for Martha and Grant. The four divide into teams, and the object of the game is to make your partner guess words from a list. The only catch? All of the clues have to be one syllable only. It's tougher than you think! --- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A listener has a question about emoticons, those little sideways symbols you type to suggest emotions in informal electronic writing. You know, like using a colon, dash, and a capital P to stick out your tongue like this :-P or using a colon, dash, and small letter d to say 'Yum!' :-d But if you're going to toss emoticons into your prose, the caller asks, how in the world do you punctuate them? --- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's a dittler? What's a dit? A traveling preacher named Fred says he's heard these strange terms in parts of Appalachia used to refer to 'baby chicks' and 'little ducklings.' We share some of our own research about these curious terms. -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode originally aired March 15, 2008.] Unless you've been hiding out in a galaxy far, far away, you know that this is an election year. Grant and Martha talk about current political slang. Ever hear of 'glass pockets'? Or 'horseracism'? Is there an etymological connection between 'caucus' and 'Caucasian'? A caller wants to settle a friendly argument: Is something not worth debating called a 'moot point' or a 'mute point'? A listener calls from in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to say that in her native Spanish, she can use several different words for 'love' to denote a whole range of feelings, depending on how close she is to the other person. She's frustrated that English seems to lack that same spectrum of words meaning various degrees of love. What's a 'barbecue stopper,' and how does it differ from a 'marmalade dropper'? Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water--Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a quiz about punny taglines from famous movies. For example, which Johnny Depp film's tagline is 'His story will touch you, even though he can't'? Back to political talk: Is there an etymological connection between the words 'caucus' and 'Caucasian'? A caller wants to know. Grant explains what politicians and watchdog groups mean by the term 'glass pockets.' A California man complains that the expression 'grow your business' grates on his nerves. A San Diego woman who's homeschooling her children wonders if there's a formula that explains why nouns like 'teacher' and 'writer' end in '-er,' while others, like 'professor' and 'conductor,' end in '-or.' She suspects it has to do with whether the words come from Latin roots or Anglo-Saxon roots. This week's 'Slang This!' contestant shares his favorite slang term, 'teho,' (To Each His Own), then tries to puzzle out the meaning of the terms 'karzy' and 'low-bush moose.' An upstate New York listener of Italian descent is curious about two favorite expressions: 'fuggeddabouddit' and 'bada-bing, bada-boom.' A Texan says his grandmother used to refer to the thigh of a chicken as the 'second joint.' Martha and Grant discuss whether it's a regional term. By the way, if you want to know the French term Martha mentions that roughly translates as 'only a silly person won't eat it,' (literally, 'the idiot leaves it') it's 'le sot-l'y-laisse.' -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've heard this happen: A singer belts out a song, and then afterward, she starts talking and you're startled to hear what sounds like a completely different accent. What is it about singing that seems to change some people's accents? A caller from Indianapolis wants to know. -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired March 8, 2008.] You've just read a terrific paperback novel. Would you feel any differently about it if you'd the same words on the glowing screen of an electronic book? Martha and Grant discuss the social and psychological implications of books that run on batteries. A caller remembers an odd phrase from her childhood. If she asked too many questions, her mother would brush them off with the phrase 'layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks.' Say what? A Milwaukee listener is curious about an expression he uses to describe underlings who can't seem to do something right: 'You give 'em books, and all they do is eat the covers!' Martha and Grant discuss the rise of the Great Japanese cell-phone novel. Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents the hosts with a wacky puzzle based on two-word phrases containing the sounds 'oo oo,' 'ee ee,' and 'aa aa.' As you might expect, animal hilarity ensues. A retired theater professor wants to know why she keeps hearing the word 'dramaturge' used in surprising new ways. Is 'dramaturged' now a legitimate verb? Can the noun also refer to someone who adapts a play for particular production--and not just to the person who originally wrote it? A caller from Down Under phones to say he's annoyed when honorees declare they're 'humbled' by this or that award. He thinks it's not only illogical, but smacks of insincerity. A fair-haired listener has been puzzled by the origin of a word she's heard all her life: 'Tow-headed.' And no, it has nothing to do with the digits on one's feet. This week's 'Slang This!' contestant, John Schwaller, president of the State University of New York at Potsdam, ponders the possible meanings of the terms 'donk' and 'Baltimore wrench.' He offers his own favorite slang term, 'snow snake.' A Washington, D.C. caller wonders whether there's a difference between the words 'grey' and 'gray.' Do they designate exactly the same thing? Why are they spelled differently. A California man says his mother used to respond to his inquiries about what they were going to do by telling him playfully, 'We're going to Buxtehude!' Decades later, he wonders whether there really is a place called Buxtehude, or where in the world she got that phrase. Grant shares his thoughts about the future of electronic books, and whether dog-eared pages with scribbles in the margins will one day go the way of the papyrus roll. -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A New York City listener says he's reading lots of thrillers this summer. But a couple of words keep tripping him up. Does a speeding car careen or career? The hosts spell out the differences, and throw in the origin of the word carom for good measure. --- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode originally aired March 3, 2008.] Do you know where your participle is dangling? Martha and Grant salute National Grammar Day. Also, when you're scribbling on a piece of paper, do you find yourself expecting spellcheck to kick in and underline your misspellings with squiggly red lines? A caller wants a term for the act of trying to do offline what can only be done online. Let's see...there's National Cheese Day on January 20 and of course National Iguana Awareness Day on September 8. So it's only fitting that good grammar should get a day of its own, too. National Grammar Day has been proclaimed for March 4 by the the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, an organization for those 'who crave good, clean English--sentences cast well and punctuated correctly.' The group's site, sums it up this way: 'It's about clarity.' Martha and Grant are down with that. So here's to National Grammar Day and also to the wise cautionary note sounded by Baltimore Sun copy editor John McIntyre about the danger of getting too curmudegonly about it all. A woman calls on behalf of her 12-year-old son, who wants to know the origin of the term 'booby trap.' No, the hosts explain, the answer has nothing to do with brassieres. A Wisconsin resident gets misty-eyed remembering the steaming plates of Beef Manhattan and Turkey Manhattan from his elementary-school days in central Indiana. But why the 'Manhattan' in their names? How far back to do you remember eating it? Let us know. An equestrian wonders about the origin of the expression 'lock, stock, and barrel.' Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a word puzzle about snowclones, linguists' joking term for twists on formulaic expressions. Have you ever done something you regretted, and instinctively reached for the 'undo' function, despite being nowhere near a computer? Maybe a page in your book accidentally turns and you reach for the browser's back button? A Hoosier seeks a term for the act of trying to do offline what can only be done online. Post your suggestions in the forum. The election's still months away, but a caller in Okinawa, Japan wonders how the husband of a female U.S. president should be addressed if the husband himself is a former president. The hosts rule out 'First Laddie.' A caller wants to know the origin of the word 'piker,' as in a 'parsimonious person.' A few episodes ago, Martha and Grant asked listeners for variations on the road-trip game of padiddle and boy, did they oblige. For starters, how about all these names for the tail-light version of padiddle? Padunkle, padonkle, perdunkle, pasquaddle, paduchi, Popeye, and dinklepink. Personally, we can't wait for the next time we're out on the road at night. This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to guess the meaning of the slang terms 'goat's mouth' and 'happy sack.' A caller wants to know which is correct: 'pleaded' or 'pled'? An Indianapolis listener who lives on same street where James Whitcomb Riley made his home wonders if the poet's name has anything to do with the expression associated with living in high style, 'the life of Riley.' Click on the 'lyrics' button on this transcription from a piano roll to see the full words to the song. A California caller gets a clarification about when to use 'a' and 'an' if the next word starts with a vowel sound. ---- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A San Diego woman is bothered by the convention of addressing envelopes to Mr. and Mrs. John Smith. Shouldn't we also include the woman's first name? For her, it's more than just a theoretical question: she spends a lot of time sending thank-you letters for nonprofit fundraising. So she's wondering, what's the best way to address them so as not to offend potential donors? Her question provokes a lively exchange about grammar, etiquette, and feminism. ... Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAYâWORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode first aired February 23, 2008.] Sharpen those pencils! Martha and Grant are doing crossword puzzles on the air again, preparing for their appearance with NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in New York City. http://www.crosswordtournament.com/ An Atlanta native wants to know why she and her fellow Southerners grew up using the word 'plum,' as in 'plum tuckered out.' Martha explains the connection between that kind of 'plum' and 'plumbers.' Which is the correct form: 'driver license,' 'drivers' license,' or 'driver's license'? An Austin teenager wants to know why we refer to a girl who behaves boyishly as a 'tomboy.' This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to guess the meaning of the terms 'beano' (no, not the anti-gas treatment) and 'macing' (no, not the stinging defensive spray). A teacher discusses whether the correct form is 'feel bad' or 'feel badly.' By the way, the Latin proverb Martha mentions here is, 'Qui docet, discet.' Why do we use a capital letter 'I' for the first person singular pronoun, but don't capitalize any other pronouns? A caller from Maine says she was taught to say 'bunny, bunny' at the first of each month for good luck. Then she met someone who says 'rabbit, rabbit' for the same reason. What's the superstition behind these lagomorphic locutions? In honor of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle about--what else?--crossed words. A caller wants to know why those deep-fried balls of cornmeal and spices are called 'hush puppies.' An ESL teacher puzzles over how to explain to his students the proper pronunciation of the word 'route.' He asks whether the pronunciation 'root' has been 'routed' by 'rowt.' A caller is curious about an expression her father liked to use 'off in the giggleweeds.' What's a giggleweed? And no, he didn't mean marijuana. More next week. Notice how we didn't say, 'Well, weed better be going'? ---- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A caller who grew up in New Jersey remembers hearing a neighbor use the expression 'Hak mir nisht ken tshaynik' whenever she wanted to shush someone. He's sure the phrase is Yiddish, but he's never been able to figure out the literal meaning. Grant solves the mystery for him. Hint: It has to do with teakettles. By the way, you'll find more details about this colorful expression in Michael Wex's book 'Born to Kvetch' here: http://www.the-yiddish-world-of-michael-wex.com/born-to-kvetch-ch-2.html -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode originally aired February 16, 2008.] There are nearly 7,000 languages in the world today, and by some estimates, they're dying off at the rate of one every week. What's lost when a language dies? Martha and Grant discuss that question and efforts to record some endangered languages before they die out completely. A caller named Holly confesses that there's a word that practically makes her break out in hives every time she hears it. Grant assures her she's not alone in her aversion to the word--Holly, cover your eyes--'moist.' Grant and Martha discuss the psychological aversion some people have to certain common terms. Is there a word that makes you shudder in disgust? Unload in our discussion forum. An Indianapolis woman calls to say she a great first date with a doctor, but was horrified to hear him suggest they meet at an 'expresso' shop. She asks for dating advice: Should she correct the guy, keep quiet about this mispronunciation, or just hope he never orders espresso again? Would you go out on a second date with someone who orders a cup of 'EX-presso'? A California man says that he thinks he is increasingly hearing locutions like '50 is the new 30' and 'pink is the new black' and 'blogs are the new resume.' He's curious about the origin of this 'X is the new Y' formula. You may recall earnestly singing 'Kumbaya' around a campfire. But a caller observes that the title of this folk song has taken on a new, more negative meaning. Grant and Martha discuss the new connotations of 'Kumbaya,' especially as used in politically conservative circles. Puzzle Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle about William Snakespeare--you know, the great playwright whose works are just one letter different from those of his better-known fellow writer, William Shakespeare. It was Snakespeare, for example, who wrote that gripping prison drama, 'Romeo and Joliet.' Grant talks about a Jack Hitt article on dying languages in the New York Times, which points out that sometimes 'the last living speaker' of a language...isn't. A caller named Brian wonders whether a co-worker was right to correct him for saying that something minor was 'of tertiary concern.' Does 'tertiary' literally mean 'third,' or can it be used to mean more generally 'peripheral' or 'not so important'? A Milwaukee man is mystified about the use of the word 'nee' in his grandmother's obituary. A 'Slang This!' contestant guesses at the meaning of the slang terms 'faux po' and 'pole tax.' A caller is curious about the colloquial expression 'it has a catch in its getalong.' She used it to describe the family's faulty car. Her husband complained the phrase was too imprecise. Grant and Martha discuss this and similar expressions, like 'hitch in its getalong' and 'hitch in its giddyup.' A California caller is puzzling over the expression 'have your cake and eat it, too.' Shouldn't it be 'eat your cake and have it, too'? Grant tells the story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who revived the use of Hebrew outside of religious contexts. In 1850, no one spoke Hebrew as an everyday language; now it's spoken by more than 5 million. That's all until next week! May your getalong keep getting along. --- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This is the first of our 2008 summer minicasts, offered only online.] We hear a lot about political candidates these days. But did you ever stop to think about where the word 'candidate' comes from? Martha says it goes back to an ancient Roman fashion statement. She also explains the etymology of the term for what drives so many candidates: 'ambition.' -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we announce our 2008 summer minicasts, offered only online. It's what we're calling an 'estival festival.' -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

[This episode originally aired January 26 and 27, 2008.] In this episode, a listener says his friend Harold likes to do social phoning while driving, so he's invented a term for mindless calling while in the car. And no, it's not 'car-pe diem.' Also, Martha and Grant also discuss the rules of the road games 'padiddle' and 'slug bug.' Maybe you know it as 'perdiddle,' but a Wisconsinite shares memories of playing 'padiddle.' You need at least two people in a car, an oncoming vehicle with a headlight out, and, depending on which version of the game you play, you need to be prepared for kissing, punching, ceiling-thwacking, beer-buying, or stripping. Grant describes the Volkswagen-inspired of another road-trip game, 'slug bug.' A listener from Falmouth, Maine, disagrees with his Canadian friends about how to pronounce the word 'aunt.' He says it shouldn't sound like the name of the insect. But is that the way most people pronounce this word for your mother's sister? A Hoosier says her friends tease her about the way she says 'doofitty' when she can't think of the right word for something. Grant and Martha discuss the long list of linguistic placeholders, including 'whatchamacallit,' 'doodad,' 'deely-bobber,' 'doowanger,' 'doojigger,' 'doohickey,' 'thingamabob,' 'thingummy,' 'thingum,' and 'thingy.' A California man remembers going to the neighborhood bakery back home in Illinois and ordering 'bismarcks.' But these days he rarely hears this term for 'jelly doughnut,' and wonders about its origin. This week's Slang This! contestant guesses at the meaning of the slang expressions 'wigs on the green' and 'fake and bake.' Grant and Martha read emails from listeners with suggested explanations as to how the term 'biffy' came to mean 'portable toilet.' They also discuss listener's own stories about saying 'bread and butter' when companions step around an obstacle that divides them. Popeye does that little 'bread and butter' step about 5:47 into this clip that Martha was talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0av3fmr0sDc We also promised words for the experience of noticing a word for the first time and then feeling like you're seeing it everywhere. Here are a few: diegogarcity, the recency Illusion, and the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. A retired professor wants to know if Latin grammar holds any clues about whether a female professor is properly addressed as 'professor emeritus' or 'professor emerita.' Finally, a woman who grew up playing 'Duck, Duck, Goose' is surprised to hear that her niece and nephew play 'Duck, Duck, Gray Duck' at their preschool in Minnesota. The hosts take a gander at regional variations of this children's game. And with that, we're ducking out of here until next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(This episode first aired January 5, 2008.) Ding! In this week's episode, Mark Twain would be pleased. Reports that it's the end of the line for the typewriter have been greatly exaggerated. Well, slightly anyway: it's not the horseless carriage return yet. Martha and Grant wax nostalgic about the pleasures of pecking away at a rumbling, shuddering Selectric. A newspaper headline about a faltering legislative proposal prompts a caller to ask: Should they have written 'floundering' or 'foundering'? A longboarder reports she and her fellow surfers refer to young surfers as 'groms' or 'grommets'--not to be confused, of course, with 'hodads' and 'kooks.' But where'd that surfing lingo come from? Greg Pliska presents a punny political puzzle about the names of presidential candidates. A listener says his sister reprimanded him for using the term 'rule of thumb.' She says the expression derives from an old British law that allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick, as long as it's no wider than his thumb. Is that story true? A caller wonders if the acrobatic 'alley-oop' in basketball is connected with the V.T. Hamlin comic strip, 'Alley Oop.' Is 'irregardless' a real word? A caller wants his wife to stop saying it. Good thing he loves her regardless! A commuter hears a radio report about an organization that's 'giving away condoms like they were going out of style.' But, he wonders, if they're really 'going out of style,' then why are they so popular? Isn't the phrase 'giving them away like they were going out of style' contradictory? In California, everybody gets a little crazy when those hot, dry winds called 'Santa Anas' start blowing. A caller asks the origin of the name. Is it a translation of Spanish for 'Satan's wind'? By the way, here's how novelist Raymond Chandler described that meteorological phenomenon in his short story, 'Red Wind': 'There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.' That's all the hot air we have time for this week! -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(This episode first aired December 15, 2007.) In this episode, Martha and Grant discuss advertising slogans and product names supposedly botched in translation. 'Biting the Wax Tadpole'? It's the wacky title of a new book by language enthusiast Elizabeth Little which has Martha and Grant talking about whether Coca-Cola and Chevrolet ran into cultural translation problems when selling products abroad. Did the Chevy Nova really sell poorly in Latin America because 'No va' means 'don't go' in Spanish? A caller wants help understanding a phrase he saw in 'Sports Illustrated': 'enough money to burn a wet dog.' Other callers have weird words on their minds, including 'biffy' (meaning 'toilet') and 'gedunk' (meaning 'ice cream' or 'a snack bar' where you might buy sweets). Greg Pliska has a quiz about chemical names that should exist but don't. A caller asks about how lakes get named and we talk about a lake with a 45-letter Indian name that may or may not translate as, 'You fish on your side, I fish on my side and nobody fishes in the middle.' It's Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. A caller from Indiana wonders if the T9 text-messaging function has led to the term 'book' being a new term for 'cool.' This week's slang contestant learns about the slang terms 'bluebird' and 'corpsing.' A New York caller is incensed by the verb 'incent' and a California listener is puzzled when his Southern relatives observe that his new baby is 'fixing to tune up' whenever she's about to start crying. A caller from San Diego has a friendly disagreement with friends about the phrase bald-faced lie v. bold-faced lie. ---- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.(This episode first aired December 15, 2007.) In this episode, Martha and Grant discuss advertising slogans and product names supposedly botched in translation. They also recommend an eclectic mix of books for the word-lover on your holiday list, from military slang to Yiddish. 'Biting the Wax Tadpole'? It's the wacky title of a new book by language enthusiast Elizabeth Little which has Martha and Grant talking about whether Coca-Cola and Chevrolet ran into cultural translation problems when selling products abroad. Did the Chevy Nova really sell poorly in Latin America because 'No va' means 'don't go' in Spanish? A caller wants help understanding a phrase he saw in 'Sports Illustrated': 'enough money to burn a wet dog.' Other callers have weird words on their minds, including 'biffy' (meaning 'toilet') and 'gedunk' (meaning 'ice cream' or 'a snack bar' where you might buy sweets). Greg Pliska has a quiz about chemical names that should exist but don't. A caller asks about how lakes get named and we talk about a lake with a 45-letter Indian name that may or may not translate as, 'You fish on your side, I fish on my side and nobody fishes in the middle.' It's Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. A caller from Indiana wonders if the T9 text-messaging function has led to the term 'book' being a new term for 'cool.' This week's slang contestant learns about the slang terms 'bluebird' and 'corpsing.' A New York caller is incensed by the verb 'incent' and a California listener is puzzled when his Southern relatives observe that his new baby is 'fixing to tune up' whenever she's about to start crying. A caller from San Diego has a friendly disagreement with friends about the phrase bald-faced lie v. bold-faced lie. ---- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, [email protected], or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Grant offers a peek at some expressions he's nominating for the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year vote in January. Will it be 'w00t,' 'subprime,' or something else? You can also check out Grant's longer look at 'word of the year' contenders in The New York Times Week in Review section on Sunday. Get out your plastic utensils and pull up a folding chair! A caller's question about the origin of the word 'potluck' stirs up mouthwatering memories of crispy fried chicken, warm peach cobbler, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows. Okay, the Jell-O salad not so much. But still, whether you call it a 'pitch-in,' a 'carry-in,' 'dinner on the grounds,' a 'covered-dish supper,' a 'Jacob's supper,' a 'faith supper, or a potluck, it's all good eatin'! An Indiana listener complains that he can't stand to hear presidential candidates pronounce the word 'pundit' as 'pundint.' Greg Pliska adds an apt and all-round admirably appealing appraisal of alliterative ability. Meaning, our Puzzle Guy presents a quiz about words that start with the same letters. May we just say that Greg gives great game? A Florida eighth-grader wants to know if a word she memorized for a spelling bee is real: 'agathokakological.' Easy for her to say. An American cartographer for the United Nations reports that he and his British wife disagree over whether 'lollygolly' is a real word that means 'to dawdle.' Martha and Grant show the mapmaker where to draw the line. Martha and Grant discuss a couple of strange new words making the rounds: 'lecondel' and 'earmarxist.' This week's 'Slang This!' contestant finds out whether the word 'puddle' is a slang term for part of a car's muffler and if the expression 'hang paper' involves flying kites. A Pennsylvania caller asks to clarify the difference between 'who vs. that.' Finally, just in time for holiday get-togethers, Grant and Martha provide some linguistic family therapy to solve a mother-daughter conflict over whether 'nummy' is a legitimate term. Mom says it's perfect for describing a delicious meal, but her daughter finds that kind of language embarrassing. Is nummy a real word? Open the hangar, here comes the answer! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a brand-new season here on 'A Way with Words!' To celebrate, Martha and Grant are noodling with anagrams--including the one in the title of this episode. Also: A New York schoolteacher asks, 'Why do we call our little finger a 'pinkie'?' Another caller snickers over a newscaster's attempt to pronounce the word 'homage.' A Hoosier who's been hanging out on motorcycle discussion boards is curious about the origin of the term 'do-rag.' 'Why is an undesirable task is called a 'g-job,'' asks a crew member on the set of the Fox Television series '24.' Martha shares a trick for remembering the answer to that perennial question: 'Does a comma go inside or outside the quotation marks?' The hosts weigh in on whether the expression 'very fun' is grammatically correct. What the heck is a 'podsnicker,' anyway? Puzzle-man Greg Pliska joins us for a recap of 2007--in limericks! Finally, is your DVD player always flashing '12:00'? A caller wonders if there's a word for a society ruled by children, something along the lines of 'patriarchy' and 'matriarchy.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grant goes through the mailbag, offering answers about the terms 'nosy parker,' 'out of pocket,' and about whether the word 'falsehood' has its origins in medieval garb. He also throws a question out to listeners about what is supposedly a mild British oath, 'butternut!' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Remember Tom, the guy who's still trying to remember a word he insists he learned long ago meaning 'the points on a compass'? That call generated a boatload of more proposed answers from listeners. But one response stood out above all the others, so Martha and Grant go back to Tom for a third time with what they hope is the right answer. PLUS: Brand-new, one-hour shows will start appearing in the podcast feed November 21st. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A caller asks a delicate question about the phrase 'blue bark shipment,' a term involving the transport of deceased members of the military. Martha and Grant discuss this puzzling expression and the challenge of tracking down its origins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A caller sends Grant and Martha off on a slang-infested trip about ways of saying a fast good-bye. Listen as they blow pop, popcorn, and taco stands by way of author Jim Harrison, the comic strip Funky Winkerbean, and a Warhol hanger-on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover the joys (and temptations!) of two new books of collected wisdom: The Yale Book of Quotations, edited by Fred Shapiro, and James Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists. Grant explains why leafing through such books can be rewarding, but hazardous to your time management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you were a child and wanted to lay claim to something, what did you say? Did you call dibs? Or did you hosey it? A caller is curious about another verb used in such situations: finnie. Grant explains this word's meaning and origin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Martha reminisces about her family's mountain roots while dipping into the delicious vocabulary of Southernisms found in the Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English. Listen to this one, ya'll, and you find out what a cackleberry is, and why you don't want to drink milk thatâs blinky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's the name for that little dent in your upper lip? It's called a philtrum. Martha reveals the erotic origins of this word, and proves once again that etymology is nothing if not sexy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: The results of the A Way with Words Collective Noun Contest! What collective noun would you apply to groups of 1) tennis players, 2) aliens from outer space, and 3) language-loving word hosts? You sent us a cleverness of witty entries, and Martha has the winners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you know what a “buffet flat” is? Is it A) a type of shoe you wear to all-you-can-eat dinners, B) a lull in economic growth predicted by Warren Buffet, or C) a squalid apartment found in the Rocky Mountain States? Find out when Grant gives you the whole megillah. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Pod Couple—also known as Martha and Grant—consider just when is "next week" or "this Monday" anyway? A husband and wife with a long running dispute turn to Martha and Grant for help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this summer a word caught my fancy: "gardentoolism." So I made a slang quiz about it! 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

Few are the words whose origins we know for certain, but “bunk” is one of them. From the mountains of North Carolina to the halls of Congress to everyday language, Martha scoops the skinny. 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

Yo, listeners! There’s another online-only podcast from “A Way with Words.” This time, Grant answers questions about the word “agio” from a fellow in Kamloops—learn more about that name, too—and he responds to reader mail about the expression “bleeding edge” and whether the word “email” is singular or plural. Also, Martha and Grant talk with a caller peeved about the seemingly salacious wording of a public-service announcement he hears during his daily train commute in Washington, D.C. 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

In June, Grant attended the biennial meeting of the Dictionary Society of North America. One of the highlights was the New Word Open Mic where anybody was invited to step up to the microphone and submit a new word they had coined or found. Grant was one of the judges, and shares some of the new words submitted in this bonus podcast from A Way with Words. 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

Martha muses about the secret lives of flowers in this week’s podcast. She’s been pondering the lexical legacy of Carolus Linnaeus, the great Swedish botanist who nearly 300 years ago was criticized for his fascination with what was a new discovery at the time: The fact that plants reproduce sexually. Prepare to fan yourself as Martha reveals her thoughts about lex and the single flower. 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