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

(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