A Way with Words

Unwrap the name of a candy bar, and you just might find a story inside. For instance, one chewy treat found in many a checkout lane is named after a family’s beloved horse. And: 50 years ago in...

https://www.waywordradio.org/life-of-riley/

How can you kick the verbal habit of saying you know and um so many times in a sentence? For one thing, get comfortable with pauses. There’s no need to fill every silence during a conversation....

https://www.waywordradio.org/blue-dolphin/

It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison w...

https://www.waywordradio.org/off-the-turnip-truck/

In her sumptuous new memoir, Jamaican writer Safiya Sinclair describes her escape from a difficult childhood ruled by her tyrannical father. For Sinclair, poetry became a lifeline. Plus: that fiz...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gilded-age/

One way to make your new business look trendy is to use two nouns separated by an ampersand, like Peach & Creature or Rainstorm & Egg or … just about any other two-word combination. A tongue-in...

https://www.waywordradio.org/loaded-for-bear/

What’s the best thing to say to someone who is grieving? Choosing the right words is far less important than just showing up. Also, a family from Russia shares their recipe for something they c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bronx-cheer/

“What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?” Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children’s joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explan...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mrs-astors-horse/

In Japan, if you want to order a corndog, you ask for an Amerikan doggu (アメリカンドッグ). These types of coinages are called wasei-eigo , or “Japanese-made English,” and there are l...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ghost-runner/

Book recommendations and the art of apology. Martha and Grant share some good reads, including an opinionated romp through English grammar, a Spanish-language adventure novel, an account of 19th-...

https://www.waywordradio.org/at-first-blush/

If you’re in a book club, how do you decide what books to read? There are lots of different ways, depending on your group’s goals. And is it ever wise to correct someone who mispronounces a w...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sweet-spot/

The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop. A medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you’re close to another dimension of space and time. There’s a term for suc...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gift-horse/

Your first name is very personal, but what if you don’t like it? For some people, changing their name works out great but for others it may create more problems than it solves. And: at least th...

https://www.waywordradio.org/had-the-radish/

What do you call a segment of an orange? These juicy pieces of fruit go by lots of different names, including section, wedge, and carpel. But they’re also called pegs or even pigs! The stringy ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/orange-pigs/

The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or ...

https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/s.gum.fm/s-6335fc48c324eacdf1c68c6c/traffic.megaphone.fm/WAYW1601232379.mp3?updated=1705858269

How do actors bring Shakespeare’s lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That techniqu...

https://www.waywordradio.org/niblings-and-nieflings/

If you skip wearing underwear, you’re said to be going commando. This bit of slang originated during the Vietnam War, when U.S. commandos had compelling reasons to do without that particular pi...

https://www.waywordradio.org/book-moth/

Stunt performers in movies have their own jargon for talking about their dangerous work. In New York City, the slang term brick means “cold,” and dumb brick means “really cold.” Plus: the...

https://www.waywordradio.org/kite-in-a-phone-booth/

Crossword puzzles are a marvelous mental workout. A delightful new book about them shares plenty of crossword lore and puzzle-solving tips. Also, performers who tell each other break a leg aren�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/takes-all-kinds/

We asked for your thoughts about whether cursive writing should be taught in schools — and many of you replied with a resounding "Yes!" You said cursive helps develop fine motor skills, improve...

https://www.waywordradio.org/strawberry-moon/

Secret signals on the job: Waitresses at some 19th-century restaurants ensured speedy drink service by communicating with a non-verbal code. One server took orders, then placed each customer's cu...

https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/s.gum.fm/s-6335fc48c324eacdf1c68c6c/traffic.megaphone.fm/WAYW9319784211.mp3?updated=1701649873

If someone urges you to spill the tea, they probably don’t want you tipping over a hot beverage. Originally, the tea here was the letter T, as in “truth.” To spill the T means to “p...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spill-the-tea/

When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dirty-laundry/

During the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of volunteers helped crowdsource the Oxford English Dictionary. This venerable reference work includes citations sent in by inventors, ecce...

https://www.waywordradio.org/strong-coffee/

Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms — that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/keep-your-powder-dry/

The emotional appeal of handwriting and the emotional reveal of animal phrases. Should children be taught cursive writing in school, or is their time better spent studying other things? A handwri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/one-armed-paper-hanger/

If you speak both German and Spanish, you may find yourself reaching for a German word instead of a Spanish one, and vice versa. This puzzling experience is so common among polyglots that linguis...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hair-on-your-tongue/

Chances are you recognize the expressions Judgment Day and root of all evil as phrases from the Bible. There are many others, such as the powers that be and bottomless pit, which both fir...

https://www.waywordradio.org/train-of-thought/

We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft pro...

https://www.waywordradio.org/space-cadet/

Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing drug-laced dollar bills, or that AM radio stati...

https://www.waywordradio.org/howling-fantods/

If your last name is Cook or Smith, your ancestors probably worked in those professions. But what if your last name is Pope? Or Abbott? And if you have enough food for Coxey’s army, you h...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pizza-bones/

If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric.” And: What’s your...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bottled-sunshine

Surf’s up! When surfers describe the waves as going gangbusters, it’s a great time out on the water. But why that word? Plus, a thesaurus of flavors serves up delicious writing about the tas...

https://www.waywordradio.org/endless-summer/

Sending someone a care package shows you care, of course. But the first care packages were boxes of food and personal items for survivors of World War II. They were from the Committee for Ameri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/care-package/

Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind! A new book of writing advice says a good sentence “imposes a logic on the world’s weirdness” and pares away options for meaning, word by ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cootie-shot/

Is listening to an audiobook for a book club somehow “cheating”? Is there no substitute for engaging with the printed page, or do audiobooks adds a whole new dimension? Plus, a mocktail os ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sticky-wicket/

In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classifying clouds — with Latin names we still use...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ding-ding-man/

A remarkable new documentary explores the world of amateur and professional mermaiding and the language bubbling up within it. Some mermaiding enthusiasts greet each other with a friendly "Shello...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gleam-in-your-eye/

Silence comes in lots of different forms. In fact, says writer Paul Goodman, there are several kinds: There's the noisy silence of "resentment and self-recrimination," and the helpful, participat...

https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/s.gum.fm/s-6335fc48c324eacdf1c68c6c/traffic.megaphone.fm/WAYW2240646429.mp3?updated=1690724525

Kinbank is a new database that illustrates the global diversity of family terms. English, for example, specifies sibling relationships with just one of two terms: sister or brother. But most o...

https://www.waywordradio.org/alligator-mouth/

A clever pun can make the difference between a so-so phrase and a memorable one. The phrase “the last straw” refers to an old fable about too many items in a load, but it takes on a whole new...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sundog/

For many people, religion provides language and rituals for key milestones in life, from births to weddings to funerals. But what if you don’t ascribe to any particular religion? What words do ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/high-jinks/

A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referred to a printing device used to produce lots of identical copies. • The link between...

https://www.waywordradio.org/oh-for-cute/

Sometimes it’s a challenge to give a book a chance: How many pages should you read before deciding it’s not worth your time? There’s a new formula to help with that decision — and it’s ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/coinkydink/

A book of photographs and essays by famous writers celebrates libraries — and the librarians who changed their lives. Plus cutting doughnuts, spinning cookies, and pulling brodies: There are...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spinning-cookies/

Book recommendations, including a collection of short stories inspired by dictionaries, and a techno-thriller for teens. Or, how about novels with an upbeat message? Publishers call this genre u...

https://www.waywordradio.org/up-your-alley/

The art of the invitation can be tricky. An inviter’s idea of invitation may be taken by an invitee as merely mentioning an event while they’re nearby. One such a misunderstanding went on for...

https://www.waywordradio.org/just-skylarking/

The game of baseball has alway inspired colorful commentary. Sometimes that means using familiar words in unfamiliar ways. The word stuff, for example, can refer to a pitcher’s repertoire, to ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/piping-hot-2/

Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s f...

https://www.waywordradio.org/folding-money/

How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so why didn’t we also adapt the French for black and white? • Not every...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mimeographs-and-dittos/

What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely depends on where you’re from. And: Martha’s vis...

https://www.waywordradio.org/takes-the-cake/

Malamute, kayak, and parka are just some of the words that have found their way into English from the language of indigenous people in northern climes. • In the 1970s, some scientists argued...

https://www.waywordradio.org/truth-and-beauty/

Funny cat videos and cute online photos inspire equally adorable slang terms we use to talk about them. • Also, when a salamander is not a salamander, the story of an Italian term for a dish to...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dessert-stomach/

Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeways. They’ll say things like take the 405 a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/blessing-box/

According to Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, it’s important to master the basics of writing, but there comes a time when you have to strike out on your own and teach yourself. Also: Spanish idio...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cool-your-soup/

It’s cats and dogs, and a few other critters, too. Animals prowl around inside several English words, including sleuth, which was originally sleuth-hound, a synonym for bloodhound. Plus, the...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cats-and-dogs/

A magnificent new book celebrates the richness and diversity of 450 years of written and spoken English in what is now the United States. It’s called The People’s Tongue, and it’s a sumptu...

https://www.waywordradio.org/fair-dinkum/

Why isn’t “you’re welcome” the default response to “thank you” for everyone? Plus lies that kids tell, Philadelphia lawyer, cowbelly, skutch, mind-bottling vs. mind-boggling, t...

https://www.waywordradio.org/put-on-the-dog/

When a teenager went a week without talking as part of a school project, he noticed a surprising side effect: Instead of rehearsing a response to what other people were saying to him, he was focu...

https://www.waywordradio.org/excuse-the-hogs/

How do you transform ancient Chinese script for use in the modern age? English uses a keyboard with just 26 letters, but the first Chinese typewriter looked like a small table under a huge disk w...

https://www.waywordradio.org/by-a-landslide/

We tend to take the index of a book for granted, but centuries ago, these helpful lists were viewed with suspicion. Some even worried that indexes would harm reading comprehension! A witty new bo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips/

If you’re ever near a sundial, step closer and look for a message. Many sundials bear haunting, poetic inscriptions about the brevity of life. Plus, language development in toddlers: why and ho...

https://www.waywordradio.org/big-dog/

If you take up texting and social media late in life, there’s a lot to learn! A twenty-something wants advice getting her dad up to speed on memes, Instagram, and animated images. Plus, when yo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/familiar-strangers/

Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, John Donne’s love poems are among the greatest...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hot-gossip/

Ever wonder what medieval England looked and sounded like? In Old English, the word hord meant "treasure" and your wordhord was the treasure of words locked up inside you. A delightful new book u...

https://www.waywordradio.org/word-hoard/

Novelist Charles Dickens and the musician Prince were very different types of artists, but they also had a lot in common. A new book chronicling their extraordinary careers becomes a larger medit...

https://www.waywordradio.org/in-the-ballpark/

Do you refer to your dog or cat as “somebody”? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don’t mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/you-talk-like-a-sausage/

In just seconds, online text generators and chatbots can produce whole paragraphs of sophisticated prose. But what do advances in artificial intelligence mean for writers? What is lost and what�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/old-college-try/

Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winte...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pushing-the-envelope/

Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence developed their own hand signs, with hundreds of gestures, that are still in use today. Plus, how do speakers of different languages distinguish sim...

https://www.waywordradio.org/primary-colors/

Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about…eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance f...

https://www.waywordradio.org/deep-fried-air/

Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of vie...

https://www.waywordradio.org/stub-your-toe/

A savory Sicilian sausage roll is always a hit for the holidays. This dish goes by a long list of names that are equally delicious to say. Plus, why are those promotional quotes you see on the ba...

https://www.waywordradio.org/big-bang/

Some people work hard to lose their accent in order to fit in. Others may be homesick for the voices they grew up with and try to reclaim them. How can you regain your old accent? Also, a compell...

https://www.waywordradio.org/east-overshoe/

A new book about how animals perceive their environment reveals immense worlds beyond our own. A bee can see ultraviolet light, catfish have taste buds all over their bodies, and manatees use hig...

https://www.waywordradio.org/snookums-snicklefritz/

Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/herd-of-turtles/

While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/if-grandma-had-wheels/

Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you're from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there's Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Ma...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mittens-in-moonlight/

Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poetic. And a mom says her son is dating someone who'...

https://www.waywordradio.org/diamond-dust/

It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fan...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sleepy-winks/

High school students in Alabama share some favorite slang terms. If someone tells you to touch grass, they’re telling you to get a reality check — but the last thing you’d actually want to...

https://www.waywordradio.org/touch-grass/

Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha's savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature an...

https://www.waywordradio.org/made-from-scratch/

A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It's a place for finding acceptance, support, and confidence for navigating the lar...

https://www.waywordradio.org/salad-days/

There are word nerds, and then there’s the woman who set up a folding chair on sidewalks throughout the country, cheerfully dispensing tips about grammar. She recounts her adventures in a new b...

https://www.waywordradio.org/funny-papers/

We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from culture to culture. In Sweden, that starry band goes by a name that means "Winter Street," and...

https://www.waywordradio.org/your-imaginary-boyfriend/

A caller wonders if she’s being hypersensitive about the way her boss addresses her in emails. Can the use of an employee’s first name ever reflect a power differential? And: a community choi...

https://www.waywordradio.org/go-bananas/

The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don't they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have y...

https://www.waywordradio.org/beefed-it/

Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re...

https://www.waywordradio.org/what-in-tarnation/

When there's no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — "you're on your own" — or CORN, for "Cl...

https://www.waywordradio.org/forty-eleven-zillion/

How long can a newly married woman be called a bride? Does bride apply only as long as her wedding day, or does it extend right on through the couple’s silver anniversary and beyond? Plus, in...

https://www.waywordradio.org/blue-streak/

A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child's letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What st...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mystery-date/

Whether it's a Rubik's cube or a round of Wordle, why do so many of us find puzzles irresistible? A new book celebrates the allure and psychological benefits of brain teasers. Plus, powerful lang...

https://www.waywordradio.org/i-dont-have-the-spoons/

You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it's too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway, who appeared in several movies with The Thr...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sour-pickle/

Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi. ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/not-my-circus/

When a teenager went a week without talking as part of a school project, he noticed a surprising side effect: Instead of rehearsing a response to what other people were saying to him, he was focu...

https://www.waywordradio.org/excuse-the-hogs/

Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a li...

https://www.waywordradio.org/scooter-pooting/

We tend to take the index of a book for granted, but centuries ago, these helpful lists were viewed with suspicion. Some even worried that indexes would harm reading comprehension! A witty new bo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips/

People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over them. And gold dance? That's the happy jig you ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gold-dance/

Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within 10 miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words...

https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/s.gum.fm/s-6335fc48c324eacdf1c68c6c/traffic.megaphone.fm/WAYW5462093917.mp3?updated=1655138342

If you take up texting and social media late in life, there’s a lot to learn! A twenty-something wants advice getting her dad up to speed on memes, Instagram, and animated images. Plus, when yo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/familiar-strangers/

Ever wonder what medieval England looked and sounded like? In Old English, the word hord meant “treasure” and your wordhord was the treasure of words locked up inside you. A delightful ne...

https://www.waywordradio.org/word-hoard/

Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. Plus, the origin story of the name William, and why it’s Guillermo in Spanish....

https://www.waywordradio.org/when-pigs-fly/

If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the w...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cool-beans/

Do you refer to your dog or cat as “somebody”? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don’t mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/you-talk-like-a-sausage/

The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga te...

https://www.waywordradio.org/love-bites/

Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winte...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pushing-the-envelope/

Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with s...

https://www.waywordradio.org/lasagna-hog/

Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence developed their own hand signs, with hundreds of gestures, that are still in use today. Plus, how do speakers of different languages distinguish sim...

https://www.waywordradio.org/primary-colors/

An anadrome is a word that forms a whole new word when you spell it backwards. For example, the word “stressed” spelled backwards is “desserts.” Some people’s first names are anadromes....

https://www.waywordradio.org/kiss-the-cow/

Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about…eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance f...

https://www.waywordradio.org/deep-fried-air/

We take our voices for granted, but it’s truly miraculous that we communicate complex thoughts simply by moving our mouths while exhaling. A fascinating new book reveals the science, history,...

https://www.waywordradio.org/no-cap-no-lie/

Some people work hard to lose their accent in order to fit in. Others may be homesick for the voices they grew up with and try to reclaim them. How can you regain your old accent? Also, a compell...

https://www.waywordradio.org/east-overshoe/

For rock climbers, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, the word send has taken on a whole new meaning. You might cheer on a fellow snowboarder with Send it, bro! — and being sendy is a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/lead-on-macduff/

Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/herd-of-turtles/

In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any g...

https://www.waywordradio.org/tribble-trouble/

Need a slang term that can replace just about anynoun? Try chumpie. If you’re from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there’s Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Islan...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mittens-in-moonlight/

National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a foreign language. And third, find out what you tr...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ring-tailed-tooter/

What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and d...

https://www.waywordradio.org/what-the-blazes/

Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mudlarking/

Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poetic. And a mom says her son is dating someone w...

https://www.waywordradio.org/diamond-dust/

It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fan...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sleepy-winks/

Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvan...

https://www.waywordradio.org/snaggletooth/

What’s it like to hike the Pacific Crest Trail all the way from Mexico to Canada? You’ll end up with sore muscles and blisters, and great stories to tell. Along the way, you’ll also pick up...

https://www.waywordradio.org/like-a-boiled-owl/

Astronauts returning from space say they experience what's called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our need to reflect on what humans all share as a spe...

https://www.waywordradio.org/your-two-cents/

Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/made-from-scratch/

Some TV commercials launch catchphrases that stick around long after the original ads. The exclamation Good stuff, Maynard! is still a compliment almost 40 years after it was used in a commerci...

https://www.waywordradio.org/deviled-eggs/

Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/good-vibrations/

A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It’s a place for finding acceptance, support, and confidence for navigating the...

https://www.waywordradio.org/salad-days/

Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The resu...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mystery-drawer/

We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from culture to culture. In Sweden, that starry band goes by a name that means “Winter Street,�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/your-imaginary-boyfriend/

In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sock-it-to-me/

The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And:...

https://www.waywordradio.org/beefed-it/

What happens in a classroom of refugee and immigrant youngsters learning English? Their fresh approach to language can result in remarkable poetry — some of which is collected in the anthology�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/moon-palace/

When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CO...

https://www.waywordradio.org/forty-eleven-zillion/

An ornithologist says there’s a growing movement to change the name of a pink-footed bird currently called the flesh-footed shearwater. The movement reflects a growing understanding that using...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cherry-bombs/

In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city's youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One...

https://www.waywordradio.org/navel-gazing/

There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum...

https://www.waywordradio.org/yak-shaving/

A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mystery-date/

Youngsters want to know: What's the difference between barely and nearly, and what's so clean about a whistle, anyway? Plus, adults recount some misunderstandings from when they were knee-high to...

https://www.waywordradio.org/today-i-learned/

Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means "money." In the same way, cat beer isn't alcoholic — some people use cat beer as a joking term for "milk." ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/singing-sand/

You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it’s too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway, who appeared in several movies with The ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sour-pickle/

Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There’s a word for that: googleganger. Plus, the language of hobbyists and enthusiasts: If you’r...

https://www.waywordradio.org/babys-breath/

Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hi...

https://www.waywordradio.org/not-my-circus/

One secret to writing well is … there is no secret! There’s no substitute for simply sitting down day after day to practice the craft and learn from your mistakes. Plus, childhood mixups arou...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hog-on-ice/

Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/scooter-pooting/

She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it's the young Mary Aning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perha...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/210719-AWWW-Goody-Two-Shoes-Rebroadcast.mp3

People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over them. And gold dance? That’s the happy jig...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gold-dance/

Join Martha and Grant of A Way with Words, the public radio show and podcast about language, for a live video Q&A and chat on Wednesday, July 14, at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. They're bursti...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/A-Way-with-Words-video-cookout-July-14.mp3

A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, though, suffrage isn't about "suffering." It's from a Latin word that involves voting. Plus: mili...

https://www.waywordradio.org/baby-blues/

Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these word...

https://www.waywordradio.org/by-a-long-shot/

One of the most powerful words you'll ever hear -- and one of the most poignant -- isn't in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. The word is endling, and it means "the last survivin...

https://www.waywordradio.org/walkie-talkie/

Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. Plus, the origin story of the name William, and why it’s Guillermo in Spanish....

https://www.waywordradio.org/when-pigs-fly/

You may have a favorite word in English, but what about your favorite in another language? The Spanish term ojalá is especially handy for expressing hopefulness and derives from Arabic for "God ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/tiger-tail/

If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the w...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cool-beans/

Ribbon fall. Gallery forest. You won't find terms like these in most dictionaries, but they and hundreds like them are discussed by famous writers in the book Home Ground: A Guide to the American...

https://www.waywordradio.org/clever-clogs/

The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga te...

https://www.waywordradio.org/love-bites/

The word hipster might seem recent, but it actually originated in the 1930s when it referred to jazz aficionados who were in the know about the best nightclubs and cool music. Speaking of music, ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/little-shavers/

Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with s...

https://www.waywordradio.org/lasagna-hog/

Is there something inherent in English that makes it the linguistic equivalent of the Borg, dominating and consuming other languages in its path? No, not at all. The answer lies with politics and...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bug-in-your-ear/

An anadrome is a word that forms a whole new word when you spell it backwards. For example, the word “stressed” spelled backwards is “desserts.” Some people’s first names are anadromes....

https://www.waywordradio.org/kiss-the-cow/

Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was suppos...

https://www.waywordradio.org/the-black-dog/

We take our voices for granted, but it’s truly miraculous that we communicate complex thoughts simply by moving our mouths while exhaling. A fascinating new book reveals the science, history,...

https://www.waywordradio.org/no-cap-no-lie/

The new Downton Abbey movie is a luscious treat for fans of the public-television period piece, but how accurate is the script when it comes to the vocabulary of the early 20th century? It may be...

https://www.waywordradio.org/beside-myself/

For rock climbers, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, the word send has taken on a whole new meaning. You might cheer on a fellow snowboarder with Send it, bro! — and being sendy is a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/lead-on-macduff/

So you've long dreamed of writing fiction, but don't know where to begin? There are lots of ways to get started — creative writing classes, local writing groups, and books with prompts to get y...

https://www.waywordradio.org/skookum/

In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any g...

https://www.waywordradio.org/tribble-trouble/

Unwrap the name of a candy bar, and you just might find a story inside. For instance, one chewy treat found in many a checkout lane is named after a family's beloved horse. And: 50 years ago in t...

https://www.waywordradio.org/life-of-riley/

National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a foreign language. And third, find out what you tr...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ring-tailed-tooter/

It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was...

https://www.waywordradio.org/off-the-turnip-truck/

What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and d...

https://www.waywordradio.org/what-the-blazes/

One way to make your new business look trendy is to use two nouns separated by an ampersand, like Peach & Creature or Rainstorm & Egg or ... just about any other two-word combination. A tongue-in...

https://www.waywordradio.org/loaded-for-bear/

Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mudlarking/

"What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn't a cat?" Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children's joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explanation fo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mrs-astors-horse/

Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvan...

https://www.waywordradio.org/snaggletooth/

Book recommendations and the art of apology. Martha and Grant share some good reads, including an opinionated romp through English grammar, a Spanish-language adventure novel, an account of 19th-...

https://www.waywordradio.org/at-first-blush/

The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop. A medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you're close to another dimension of space and time. There's a term for such lo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gift-horse/

What’s it like to hike the Pacific Crest Trail all the way from Mexico to Canada? You’ll end up with sore muscles and blisters, and great stories to tell. Along the way, you’ll also pick up...

https://www.waywordradio.org/like-a-boiled-owl/

Your first name is very personal, but what if you don't like it? For some people, changing their name works out great but for others it may create more problems than it solves. And: at least thre...

https://www.waywordradio.org/had-the-radish/

Astronauts returning from space say they experience what's called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our need to reflect on what humans all share as a spe...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/201207-AWWW-Two-Cents.mp3

The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/abso-bloomin-lutely/

How do actors bring Shakespeare's lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That technique ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/niblings-and-nieflings/

In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sock-it-to-me/

How do actors bring Shakespeare's lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That technique ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/niblings-and-nieflings/

We asked for your thoughts about whether cursive writing should be taught in schools — and many of you replied with a resounding “Yes!” You said cursive helps develop fine motor skills, imp...

https://www.waywordradio.org/strawberry-moon/

Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/good-vibrations/

If someone urges you to spill the tea, they probably don’t want you tipping over a hot beverage. Originally, the tea here was the letter T, as in “truth.” To spill the T means to “p...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spill-the-tea/

Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The resu...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mystery-drawer/

When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dirty-laundry/

Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms — that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/keep-your-powder-dry/

The emotional appeal of handwriting and the emotional reveal of animal phrases. Should children be taught cursive writing in school, or is their time better spent studying other things? A handwri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/one-armed-paper-hanger/

Some TV commercials launch catchphrases that stick around long after the original ads. The exclamation Good stuff, Maynard! is still a compliment almost 40 years after it was used in a commerci...

https://www.waywordradio.org/deviled-eggs/

If you speak both German and Spanish, you may find yourself reaching for a German word instead of a Spanish one, and vice versa. This puzzling experience is so common among polyglots that linguis...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hair-on-your-tongue/

How does social context shape our perception of language? When hiking the Appalachian Trail, a young woman from Wyoming found that fellow hikers assumed she was from another country, not only bec...

https://www.waywordradio.org/played-by-ear/

Chances are you recognize the expressions Judgment Day and root of all evil as phrases from the Bible. There are many others, such as the powers that be and bottomless pit, which both fir...

https://www.waywordradio.org/train-of-thought/

What happens in a classroom of refugee and immigrant youngsters learning English? Their fresh approach to language can result in remarkable poetry — some of which is collected in the anthology�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/moon-palace/

We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft pro...

https://www.waywordradio.org/space-cadet/

Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing drug-laced dollar bills, or that AM radio stati...

https://www.waywordradio.org/howling-fantods/

An ornithologist says there’s a growing movement to change the name of a pink-footed bird currently called the flesh-footed shearwater. The movement reflects a growing understanding that using...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cherry-bombs/

If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric.” And: What’s your...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bottled-sunshine/

An artist asks strangers to write haiku about the pandemic and gets back poetic, poignant glimpses of life under lockdown. Plus, the new book Queenspotting features the colorful language of bee...

https://www.waywordradio.org/queen-bee/

Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind! A new book of writing advice says a good sentence “imposes a logic on the world’s weirdness” and pares away options for meaning, word by ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cootie-shot/

In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. O...

https://www.waywordradio.org/navel-gazing/

In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classifying clouds — with Latin names we still use...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ding-ding-man/

Silence comes in many forms. Writer Paul Goodman says there is, for example, the noisy silence of “resentment and self-recrimination,” and the helpful, participatory silence of actively liste...

https://www.waywordradio.org/take-tea-for-the-fever/

There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little 7-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding -- and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actu...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/200608-AWWW-Yak-Shaving.mp3

A clever pun can make the difference between a so-so phrase and a memorable one. The phrase “the last straw” refers to an old fable about too many items in a load, but it takes on a whole new...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sundog/

A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referred to a printing device used to produce lots of identical copies. • The link between...

https://www.waywordradio.org/oh-for-cute/

Sometimes it's a challenge to give a book a chance: How many pages should you read before deciding it's not worth your time? There's a new formula to help with that decision — and it's all base...

https://www.waywordradio.org/coinkydink/

Book recommendations, including a collection of short stories inspired by dictionaries, and a techno-thriller for teens. Or, how about novels with an upbeat message? Publishers call this genre u...

https://www.waywordradio.org/up-your-alley/

The game of baseball has alway inspired colorful commentary. Sometimes that means using familiar words in unfamiliar ways. The word stuff, for example, can refer to a pitcher’s repertoire, to ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/piping-hot-2/

In this episode: How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so why didn’t we also adapt the French for black and whi...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mimeographs-and-dittos/

The adjectives canine and feline refer to dogs and cats. But how does English address other groups of animals? Plus, cabin fever has been around much longer than the current pandemic. That ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cabin-fever/

There’s a proverb that goes “beloved children have many names.” At least, that’s true when it comes to the names we give our pets. “Fluffy” becomes “Fluffers” becomes “FluffFace...

https://www.waywordradio.org/chopped-liver/

Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means "money." In the same way, cat beer isn't alcoholic — some people use cat beer as a joking term for "milk." ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/singing-sand/

Malamute, kayak, and parka are just some of the words that have found their way into English from the language of indigenous people in northern climes. • In the 1970s, some scientists argued...

https://www.waywordradio.org/truth-and-beauty/

Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There's a word for that: googleganger. Plus, the language of hobbyists and enthusiasts: If you're a b...

https://www.waywordradio.org/babys-breath/

Funny cat videos and cute online photos inspire equally adorable slang terms we use to talk about them. • Also, when a salamander is not a salamander, the story of an Italian term for a dish to...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dessert-stomach/

One secret to writing well is . . . there is no secret! There's no substitute for simply sitting down day after day to practice the craft and learn from your mistakes. Plus, childhood mixups arou...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/200309-AWWW-Hog-on-Ice.mp3

If you think they refer to umbrellas as bumbershoots in the UK, think again. The word bumbershoot actually originated in the United States! In Britain, it’s prolly a brolly. • Also: snow-g...

https://www.waywordradio.org/brollies-and-bumbershoots/

She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it's the young Mary Aning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perha...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/200224-AWWW-Goody-Two-Shoes.mp3

According to Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, it’s important to master the basics of writing, but there comes a time when you have to strike out on your own and teach yourself. Also: Spanish idio...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cool-your-soup/

A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, though, suffrage isn't about "suffering." It's from a Latin word that involves voting. Plus: mili...

https://www.waywordradio.org/baby-blues/

Why isn’t “you’re welcome” the default response to “thank you” for everyone? Plus lies that kids tell, Philadelphia lawyer, cowbelly, skutch, mind-bottling vs. mind-boggling, t...

https://www.waywordradio.org/put-on-the-dog/

One of the most powerful words you'll ever hear -- and one of the most poignant -- isn't in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. The word is endling, and it means "the last survivin...

https://www.waywordradio.org/walkie-talkie/

You may have a favorite word in English, but what about your favorite in another language? The Spanish term ojalá is especially handy for expressing hopefulness and derives from Arabic for "God ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/tiger-tail/

The highly specialized vocabulary of people who work outdoors, communicating with sled dogs, a word from the sport of rock-climbing, church key, browse line, smeuse, nitnoy, mommick, zawn,�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gee-haw/

The origins of the peace symbol, why we say someone who’s enthusiastic is gung ho, a tasty spin on stuffed foccacia that originated in eastern Sicily, curling parents, sharking and other wo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gung-ho/

A second-generation Filipino-American finds that when he speaks English, his personality is firm, direct, and matter-of-fact. But when he speaks with family members in Tagalog, he feels more soft...

https://www.waywordradio.org/crusticles-and-fenderbergs/

Ribbon fall. Gallery forest. You won't find terms like these in most dictionaries, but they and hundreds like them are discussed by famous writers in the book Home Ground: A Guide to the American...

https://www.waywordradio.org/clever-clogs/

Today we shoot holes in a story that just won’t die that about "son of a gun" and babies born aboard sailing ships. ... Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/son-of-a-gun-minicast/

The word hipster might seem recent, but it actually originated in the 1930s when it referred to jazz aficionados who were in the know about the best nightclubs and cool music. Speaking of music, ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/little-shavers/

Martha here with a special minicast of A Way with Words. Today I want to tell you an electrifying story — and make a request for you to support A Way with Words. want to tell you a story — an...

https://www.waywordradio.org/electrifying-minicast/

Is there something inherent in English that makes it the linguistic equivalent of the Borg, dominating and consuming other languages in its path? No, not at all. The answer lies with politics and...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bug-in-your-ear/

How many different ways are there to say you have a baby on the way? You can say you’re pregnant, great with child, clucky, awkward, eating for two, lumpy, or swallowed a pumpkin seed? ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bun-in-the-oven/

Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was suppos...

https://www.waywordradio.org/the-black-dog/

How would you like to be welcomed to married life by friends and neighbors descending on your home for a noisy celebration, tearing off the labels of all your canned foods and scattering cornflak...

https://www.waywordradio.org/flying-pickle/

In this episode, books for word lovers, from a collection of curious words to some fun with Farsi. • Some people yell “Geronimo!” when they jump out of an airplane, but why? • We call som...

https://www.waywordradio.org/the-last-straw/

The new Downton Abbey movie is a luscious treat for fans of the public-television period piece, but how accurate is the script when it comes to the vocabulary of the early 20th century? It may be...

https://www.waywordradio.org/beside-myself/

A new online archive of Civil War letters offers a vivid portrait of the everyday lives of enlisted men. These soldiers lacked formal education so they wrote and spelled by ear. The letters show ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hidden-treasures/

So you've long dreamed of writing fiction, but don't know where to begin? There are lots of ways to get started — creative writing classes, local writing groups, and books with prompts to get y...

https://www.waywordradio.org/skookum/

If you're not using a dictionary to look up puzzling words as you read them, you're missing out on a whole other level of enjoyment. Also, when you're cleaning house, why not clean like there's l...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/191014-AWWW-Butterflies-in-the-Stomach-Rebroadcast.mp3

Unwrap the name of a candy bar, and you just might find a story inside. For instance, one chewy treat found in many a checkout lane is named after a family's beloved horse. And: 50 years ago in t...

https://www.waywordradio.org/life-of-riley/

Some countries have strict laws about naming babies. New Zealand authorities, for example, denied a request to name some twins Fish and Chips. • Halley’s Comet seen centuries before Englis...

https://www.waywordradio.org/catch-you-on-the-flip-side/

It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was...

https://www.waywordradio.org/off-the-turnip-truck/

One way to make your new business look trendy is to use two nouns separated by an ampersand, like Peach & Creature or Rainstorm & Egg or ... just about any other two-word combination. A tongue-in...

https://www.waywordradio.org/loaded-for-bear/

SUMMARY Of all the letters in the alphabet, which two or three are your favorites? If your short list includes one or more of your initials, that's no accident. Psychological research shows we're...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190909-AWWW-All-Verklempt-Rebroadcast.mp3

Decisions by dictionary editors, wacky wordplay, and Walt Whitman's soaring verse.  How do lexicographers decide which historical figures deserve a mention or perhaps even an illustration in the...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190902-AWWW-Hunk-Waffle-Rebroadcast.mp3

A highly anticipated children’s book and the epic history behind a familiar vegetable: fans of illustrator Maurice Sendak eagerly await publication of a newly discovered manuscript by the late ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pants-on-fire/

Where would you find a sports commentator talking about high cheese and ducks on a pond? Here’s a hint: both terms are part of what makes America’s pastime so colorful. • A government of...

https://www.waywordradio.org/frozen-rope/

Gerrymandering draws political boundaries to tip elections towards certain political parties. Originally, the word was pronounced “GARY-mandering” with a hard “g.” But why? And why did i...

https://www.waywordradio.org/flop-sweat/

The only time you'll ever see the sun's outer atmosphere is during a full solar eclipse, when sun itself is completely covered. That hazy ring is called the corona, from the Latin word for "crown...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190805-AWWW-Smile-Belt-Rebroadcast.mp3

"What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn't a cat?" Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children's joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explanation fo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mrs-astors-horse/

This week it’s butterflies, belly flowers, plot bunnies, foxes, and cuckoos. Also, writing advice from Mark Twain and a wonderful bit of prose from Sara Pennypacker's book Pax. And are there wo...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190722-AWWW-A-Shoo-In-Rebroadcast.mp3

Book recommendations and the art of apology. Martha and Grant share some good reads, including an opinionated romp through English grammar, a Spanish-language adventure novel, an account of 19th-...

https://www.waywordradio.org/at-first-blush/

As a kid, you may have played that game where you phone someone to say, “Is your refrigerator running? Then you better go catch it!” What’s the term for that kind of practical joke? Is it a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/noon-of-night/

The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop. A medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you're close to another dimension of space and time. There's a term for such lo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gift-horse/

What’s the best way for someone busy to learn lots of new words quickly for a test like the GRE? Looking up their origins can help. Or, record yourself reading the words and definitions and pla...

https://www.waywordradio.org/naked-as-a-jaybird/

Your first name is very personal, but what if you don't like it? For some people, changing their name works out great but for others it may create more problems than it solves. And: at least thre...

https://www.waywordradio.org/had-the-radish/

Why do we call a frankfurter a "hot dog"? It seems an unsettling 19th-century rumor is to blame. Also, if someone quits something abruptly, why do we say they quit "cold turkey"? This term's root...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190610-AWWW-Hot-Dog-Cold-Turkey-Rebroadcast.mp3

The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose you could invite any two authors, living or ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/abso-bloomin-lutely/

The months of September, October, November, and December take their names from Latin words meaning "seven," "eight," "nine," and "ten." So why don't their names correspond to where they fall in t...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190527-AWWW-Skedaddle-Rebroadcast.mp3

In the military, if you’ve lost the bubble, then you can’t find your bearings. The term first referred to calibrating the position of aircraft and submarines. • The phrase the coast is cl...

https://www.waywordradio.org/coast-is-clear/

How do actors bring Shakespeare's lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That technique ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/niblings-and-nieflings/

This week on A Way with Words: Restaurant jargon, military slang, and modern Greek turns of phrase. • Some restaurants now advertise that they sell “clean” sandwiches. But that doesn’t m...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gone-to-seed/

How do actors bring Shakespeare's lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of people and places at certain points. That technique ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/niblings-and-nieflings/

Hundreds of years ago, the word girl didn’t necessarily mean a female child — in the 14th and 15th centuries, it could refer to a child of either sex. Only later did its meaning become more...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hells-half-acre/

This week: Do you ever find yourself less-than-specific about your age? Listeners share some of their favorite phrases for fudging that number, like: “Oh, I’m 29, plus shipping and handling.�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/steamed-bun/

Questions from young listeners and conversations about everything from shifting slang to a bizarre cooking technique. Kids ask about how to talk about finding information on the internet, how tar...

https://www.waywordradio.org/kids-are-asking/

We asked for your thoughts about whether cursive writing should be taught in schools — and many of you replied with a resounding “Yes!” You said cursive helps develop fine motor skills, imp...

https://www.waywordradio.org/strawberry-moon/

Choosing language that helps resolve interpersonal conflict. Sometimes a question is really just a veiled form of criticism and understanding the difference between “ask culture” and “guess...

https://www.waywordradio.org/charismatic-megafauna/

If someone urges you to spill the tea, they probably don’t want you tipping over a hot beverage. Originally, the tea here was the letter T, as in “truth.” To spill the T means to “p...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spill-the-tea/

A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So why is it a pejorative term for those of a certain political persuasion? Also, is there something wrong with the phrase committed suicide?...

https://www.waywordradio.org/knuckle-down/

When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dirty-laundry/

The words we choose can change attitudes — and change lives. A swing-dance instructor has switched to gender-neutral language when teaching couples. He says that using words like “leader” a...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190304-AWWW-Lie-Like-a-Rug-Rebroadcast.mp3

Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms — that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/keep-your-powder-dry/

The emotional appeal of handwriting and the emotional reveal of animal phrases. Should children be taught cursive writing in school, or is their time better spent studying other things? A handwri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/one-armed-paper-hanger/

If you speak both German and Spanish, you may find yourself reaching for a German word instead of a Spanish one, and vice versa. This puzzling experience is so common among polyglots that linguis...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hair-on-your-tongue/

Chances are you recognize the expressions Judgment Day and root of all evil as phrases from the Bible. There are many others, such as the powers that be and bottomless pit, which both fir...

https://www.waywordradio.org/train-of-thought/

The anatomy of effective prose, and the poetry of anatomy. Ever wonder what it’d be like to audit a class taught by a famous writer? A graduate student’s essay offers a taste of a semester st...

https://www.waywordradio.org/colonial-english/

This week on "A Way with Words": Grant and Martha discuss the L-word--or two L-words, actually: liberal and libertarian. They reflect different political philosophies, so why do they look so simi...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190121-AWWW-Pig-Latin-Rebroadcast.mp3

The language and melodies of military marching songs connect grown children with their parents who served, as do parents’ love letters from World War II. Plus, “running a sandy” describes a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistle-in-the-dark/

Clean cursing for modern times, more about communicating after a brain injury, and 1970's TV lingo with roots in the Second World War. A young woman wants a family-friendly way to describe a stat...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/190107-AWWW-Fickle-Finger-of-Fate-Rebroadcast.mp3

Novelist Charles Dickens created many unforgettable characters, but he’s also responsible for coining or popularizing lots of words, like “flummox” and “butterfingers.” Also, the life�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/stars-and-garters/

We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft pro...

https://www.waywordradio.org/space-cadet/

Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing drug-laced dollar bills, or that AM radio stati...

https://www.waywordradio.org/howling-fantods/

Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind! A new book of writing advice says a good sentence “imposes a logic on the world’s weirdness” and pares away options for meaning, word by ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cootie-shot/

If you want to be a better writer, try skipping today’s bestsellers, and read one from the 1930’s instead. Or read something besides fiction in order to find your own metaphors and perspectiv...

https://www.waywordradio.org/boss-of-me/

A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who's there? Boo. Well… you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goof...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spur-of-the-moment/

If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric.” And: What’s your...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bottled-sunshine/

Sending someone a care package shows you care, of course. But the first care packages were boxes of food and personal items for survivors of World War II. They were from the Committee for Ameri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/care-package/

Victorian slang and a modern controversy over language and gender. In the early 1900’s, a door-knocker wasn’t just what visitors used to announce their arrival, it was a type of beard with a ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hell-for-leather/

In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classifying clouds — with Latin names we still use...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ding-ding-man/

Silence comes in many forms. Writer Paul Goodman says there is, for example, the noisy silence of “resentment and self-recrimination,” and the helpful, participatory silence of actively liste...

https://www.waywordradio.org/take-tea-for-the-fever/

A clever pun can make the difference between a so-so phrase and a memorable one. The phrase “the last straw” refers to an old fable about too many items in a load, but it takes on a whole new...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sundog/

A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referred to a printing device used to produce lots of identical copies. • The link between...

https://www.waywordradio.org/oh-for-cute/

Sometimes it's a challenge to give a book a chance: How many pages should you read before deciding it's not worth your time? There's a new formula to help with that decision — and it's all base...

https://www.waywordradio.org/coinkydink/

In deafening workplaces, like sawmills and factories, workers develop their own elaborate sign language to discuss everything from how their weekend went to when the boss is on his way. Plus, E...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sweet-dreams/

Sensuous words and terms of endearment. Think of a beautiful word. Now, is it simply the word’s sound that makes it beautiful? Or does its appeal also depend on meaning? Also, pet names for lov...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gangbusters/

How often do you hear the words campaign and political in the same breath? Oddly enough, 19th-century grammarians railed against using campaign to mean “an electoral contest.” Martha an...

https://www.waywordradio.org/xyz-pdq/

The names of professional sports teams often have surprising histories -- like the baseball team name inspired by, of all things, trolley-car accidents. Plus, some questions to debate at your nex...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180903-AWWW-Hang-a-Ralph-Rebroadcast.mp3

You may have heard the advice that to build your vocabulary you should read, read, and then read some more--and make sure to include a wide variety of publications. But what if you just don't hav...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180827-AWWW-You-Bet-Your-Boots-Rebroadcast.mp3

This week on "A Way with Words": The language of political speech. Politicians have to repeat themselves so often that they naturally develop a repertoire of stock phrases to fall back on. But is...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180820-AWWW-Pink-Slip-Rebroadcast.mp3

How do languages change and grow? Does every language acquire new words in the same way? Martha and Grant focus on how that process happens in English and Spanish. Plus, the stories behind the Sp...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180813-AWWW-Criss-Cross-Applesauce-Rebroadcast.mp3

The stories behind slang, political and otherwise. The dated term "jingoism" denotes a kind of belligerent nationalism. But the word's roots lie in an old English drinking-house song that was pop...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180806-AWWW-Whistle-Pig-Rebroadcast.mp3

Book recommendations, including a collection of short stories inspired by dictionaries, and a techno-thriller for teens. Or, how about novels with an upbeat message? Publishers call this genre u...

https://www.waywordradio.org/up-your-alley/

The game of baseball has alway inspired colorful commentary. Sometimes that means using familiar words in unfamiliar ways. The word stuff, for example, can refer to a pitcher’s repertoire, to ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/piping-hot-2/

Brand names, children’s games, and the etiquette of phone conversations. Those clever plastic PEZ dispensers come in all shapes and sizes—but where did the word PEZ come from? The popular c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/copacetic/

When does a word’s past make it too sensitive to use in the present? In contra dancing, there’s a particular move that dancers traditionally call a gypsy. But there’s a growing recognition...

https://www.waywordradio.org/put-some-mustard-on-it/

Have you ever offered to foster a dog or cat, but wound up adopting instead? There's an alliterative term for that. And when you're on the job, do niceties like "Yes, ma'am" and "No, sir" make yo...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180702-AWWW-Proof-in-the-Pudding-Rebroadcast.mp3

It’s a positive attitude. It’s who we really are. Go to https://waywordradio.org/mission . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/2018-We-have-an-attitude.mp3

In this episode: How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so why didn’t we also adapt the French for black and whi...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mimeographs-and-dittos/

Teen slang from the South, and food words that are tricky to pronounce. • High schoolers in Huntsville, Alabama, told Martha and Grant about their slang, including a term particular to their ho...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spicy-jambalaya/

Have you ever wanted to know who we really are? How Grant and I really see ourselves? Go to https://waywordradio.org/mission . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/2018-A-request-from-Martha.mp3

There’s a proverb that goes “beloved children have many names.” At least, that’s true when it comes to the names we give our pets. “Fluffy” becomes “Fluffers” becomes “FluffFace...

https://www.waywordradio.org/chopped-liver/

When writing textbooks about slavery, which words best reflect its cold, hard reality? Some historians are dropping the word slave in favor of terms like enslaved person and captive, arguing...

https://www.waywordradio.org/busted-melon-2/

Malamute, kayak, and parka are just some of the words that have found their way into English from the language of indigenous people in northern climes. • In the 1970s, some scientists argued...

https://www.waywordradio.org/truth-and-beauty/

To transmit information during wartime, various industries used to encode their messages letter by letter with an elaborate system–a primitive version of today’s digital encryption. Grant bre...

https://www.waywordradio.org/jump-steady-2/

Funny cat videos and cute online photos inspire equally adorable slang terms we use to talk about them. • Also, when a salamander is not a salamander, the story of an Italian term for a dish to...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dessert-stomach/

The dilemma continues over how to spell dilemma! Grant and Martha try to suss out the backstory of why some people spell that word with an “n.” A lot of them, it seems, went to Catholic scho...

https://www.waywordradio.org/scat-cat-2/

What other names could a team use if they realize it’s time to give up calling themselves the “Redskins”? Also, what should we call those people who don’t turn left as as soon as the traf...

https://www.waywordradio.org/far-out-man/

Can language change bad behavior in crowded places? The Irish Railway system has launched an ad campaign to encourage passengers to be more generous at boarding time. For example, have you ever r...

https://www.waywordradio.org/beat-the-band/

If you think they refer to umbrellas as bumbershoots in the UK, think again. The word bumbershoot actually originated in the United States! In Britain, it’s prolly a brolly. • Also: snow-g...

https://www.waywordradio.org/brollies-and-bumbershoots/

According to Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, it’s important to master the basics of writing, but there comes a time when you have to strike out on your own and teach yourself. Also: Spanish idio...

https://www.waywordradio.org/cool-your-soup/

Why isn’t “you’re welcome” the default response to “thank you” for everyone? Plus lies that kids tell, Philadelphia lawyer, cowbelly, skutch, mind-bottling vs. mind-boggling, t...

https://www.waywordradio.org/put-on-the-dog/

What’s in a mascot name? Maybe you’re a fan of the Banana Slugs, or you cheer for the Winged Beavers. Perhaps your loyalty lies with the Fighting Artichokes. There are some strange names for ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/fighting-artichokes/

The slang coming out of Victorian mouths was more colorful than you might think. A 1909 collection of contemporary slang records clever terms for everything from a bald head to the act of sidling...

https://www.waywordradio.org/burn-bag/

The highly specialized vocabulary of people who work outdoors, communicating with sled dogs, a word from the sport of rock-climbing, church key, browse line, smeuse, nitnoy, mommick, zawn,�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gee-haw/

The origins of the peace symbol, why we say someone who’s enthusiastic is gung ho, a tasty spin on stuffed foccacia that originated in eastern Sicily, curling parents, sharking and other wo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gung-ho/

Gerrymandering draws political boundaries to tip elections towards certain political parties. Originally, the word was pronounced “GARY-mandering” with a hard “g.” But why? And why did i...

https://www.waywordradio.org/flop-sweat/

The only time you'll ever see the sun's outer atmosphere is during a full solar eclipse, when sun itself is completely covered. That hazy ring is called the corona, from the Latin word for "crown...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180219-AWWW-Smile-Belt-Rebroadcast.mp3

A second-generation Filipino-American finds that when he speaks English, his personality is firm, direct, and matter-of-fact. But when he speaks with family members in Tagalog, he feels more soft...

https://www.waywordradio.org/crusticles-and-fenderbergs/

How many different ways are there to say you have a baby on the way? You can say you’re pregnant, great with child, clucky, awkward, eating for two, lumpy, or swallowed a pumpkin seed? ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bun-in-the-oven/

How would you like to be welcomed to married life by friends and neighbors descending on your home for a noisy celebration, tearing off the labels of all your canned foods and scattering cornflak...

https://www.waywordradio.org/flying-pickle/

New research shows that you may be less influenced by superstitious behavior like walking under ladders or the magic of four-leaf clovers if you're reading about it in another language. And: some...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180122-AWWW-Happy-as-Larry.mp3

This week it’s butterflies, belly flowers, plot bunnies, foxes, and cuckoos. Also, writing advice from Mark Twain and a wonderful bit of prose from Sara Pennypacker's book Pax. And are there wo...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/180115-AWWW-A-Shoo-In-Rebroadcast.mp3

As a kid, you may have played that game where you phone someone to say, “Is your refrigerator running? Then you better go catch it!” What’s the term for that kind of practical joke? Is it a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/noon-of-night/

What’s the best way for someone busy to learn lots of new words quickly for a test like the GRE? Looking up their origins can help. Or, record yourself reading the words and definitions and pla...

https://www.waywordradio.org/naked-as-a-jaybird/

Why do we call a frankfurter a "hot dog"? It seems an unsettling 19th-century rumor is to blame. Also, if someone quits something abruptly, why do we say they quit "cold turkey"? This term's root...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/171225-AWWW-Hot-Dog-Cold-Turkey-Rebroadcast.mp3

We’ve got a curious problem here at A Way with Words. Over the last decade, we’ve grown the show from just 12 stations in four states to more than 300 signals in 37 states. What that means is...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/There-is-more-of-everything.mp3

Take a look back at some notable words and phrases from 2017: Remember path of totality? How about milkshake duck? Also, a committee has to choose a new mascot for a school’s sports teams. Th...

https://www.waywordradio.org/brand-spanking-new/

In this episode, books for word lovers, from a collection of curious words to some fun with Farsi. • Some people yell “Geronimo!” when they jump out of an airplane, but why? • We call som...

https://www.waywordradio.org/the-last-straw/

Donate to support A Way with Words https://waywordradio.org/donate .... Making the show takes money, of course. We don’t get any from NPR. And we don’t get any from your local station. We ge...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/A-gift-for-your-language-nerd.mp3

The months of September, October, November, and December take their names from Latin words meaning "seven," "eight," "nine," and "ten." So why don't their names correspond to where they fall in t...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/171204-AWWW-Skedaddle-Rebroadcast.mp3

In the military, if you’ve lost the bubble, then you can’t find your bearings. The term first referred to calibrating the position of aircraft and submarines. • The phrase the coast is cl...

https://www.waywordradio.org/coast-is-clear/

A new online archive of Civil War letters offers a vivid portrait of the everyday lives of enlisted men. These soldiers lacked formal education so they wrote and spelled by ear. The letters show ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hidden-treasures/

If you're not using a dictionary to look up puzzling words as you read them, you're missing out on a whole other level of enjoyment. Also, when you're cleaning house, why not clean like there's l...

http://awww.libsyn.com/butterflies-in-the-stomach-13-november-2017

Some countries have strict laws about naming babies. New Zealand authorities, for example, denied a request to name some twins Fish and Chips. • Halley’s Comet seen centuries before Englis...

https://www.waywordradio.org/catch-you-on-the-flip-side/

Of all the letters in the alphabet, which two or three are your favorites? If your short list includes one or more of your initials, that's no accident. Psychological research shows we're drawn t...

http://awww.libsyn.com/all-verklempt-30-october-2017

Decisions by dictionary editors, wacky wordplay, and Walt Whitman's soaring verse.  How do lexicographers decide which historical figures deserve a mention or perhaps even an illustration in the...

http://awww.libsyn.com/hunk-waffle-23-october-2017

A highly anticipated children’s book and the epic history behind a familiar vegetable: fans of illustrator Maurice Sendak eagerly await publication of a newly discovered manuscript by the late ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pants-on-fire/

Where would you find a sports commentator talking about high cheese and ducks on a pond? Here’s a hint: both terms are part of what makes America’s pastime so colorful. • A government of...

https://www.waywordradio.org/frozen-rope/

This week on A Way with Words: Restaurant jargon, military slang, and modern Greek turns of phrase. • Some restaurants now advertise that they sell “clean” sandwiches. But that doesn’t m...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gone-to-seed/

Hundreds of years ago, the word girl didn’t necessarily mean a female child — in the 14th and 15th centuries, it could refer to a child of either sex. Only later did its meaning become more...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hells-half-acre/

This week: Do you ever find yourself less-than-specific about your age? Listeners share some of their favorite phrases for fudging that number, like: “Oh, I’m 29, plus shipping and handling.�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/steamed-bun/

Choosing language that helps resolve interpersonal conflict. Sometimes a question is really just a veiled form of criticism and understanding the difference between “ask culture” and “guess...

https://www.waywordradio.org/charismatic-megafauna/

A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So why is it a pejorative term for those of a certain political persuasion? Also, is there something wrong with the phrase committed suicide?...

https://www.waywordradio.org/knuckle-down/

Our youngest listeners have questions about everything from love to one of their favorite foods. Kids ask why we might end a text with the letters xoxo, what the word "canoodle" means, and how pi...

http://awww.libsyn.com/what-kids-know-and-want-to-find-out-1-september-2017

The words we choose can change attitudes — and change lives. A swing-dance instructor has switched to gender-neutral language when teaching couples. He says that using words like “leader” a...

http://awww.libsyn.com/lie-like-a-rug-rebroadcast-28-august-2017

This week on "A Way with Words": Grant and Martha discuss the L-word--or two L-words, actually: liberal and libertarian. They reflect different political philosophies, so why do they look so simi...

http://awww.libsyn.com/pig-latin-rebroadcast-21-august-2017

The language and melodies of military marching songs connect grown children with their parents who served, as do parents’ love letters from World War II. Plus, “running a sandy” describes a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistle-in-the-dark/

Say you have an acquaintance you always see at the dog park or the playground. But one night, you run into them at the movies, and for a moment, it's confusing. Is there a word for that disorient...

http://awww.libsyn.com/chocolate-gravy-rebroadcast-7-august-2017

Clean cursing for modern times, more about communicating after a brain injury, and 1970's TV lingo with roots in the Second World War. A young woman wants a family-friendly way to describe a stat...

http://awww.libsyn.com/fickle-finger-of-fate-rebroadcast-31-july-2017

Gerrymandering draws political boundaries to tip elections towards certain political parties. Originally, the word was pronounced “GARY-mandering” with a hard “g.” But why? And why did i...

https://www.waywordradio.org/flop-sweat/

The only time you'll ever see the sun's outer atmosphere is during a full solar eclipse, when sun itself is completely covered. That hazy ring is called the corona, from the Latin word for "crown...

http://awww.libsyn.com/smile-belt-17-july-2017

This week it’s butterflies, belly flowers, plot bunnies, foxes, and cuckoos. Also, writing advice from Mark Twain and a wonderful bit of prose from Sara Pennypacker's book Pax. And are there wo...

http://awww.libsyn.com/a-shoo-in-10-july-2017

Novelist Charles Dickens created many unforgettable characters, but he’s also responsible for coining or popularizing lots of words, like “flummox” and “butterfingers.” Also, the life�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/stars-and-garters/

As a kid, you may have played that game where you phone someone to say, “Is your refrigerator running? Then you better go catch it!” What’s the term for that kind of practical joke? Is it a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/noon-of-night/

If you want to be a better writer, try skipping today's bestsellers, and read one from the 1930's instead. Or read something besides fiction in order to find your own metaphors and perspective. P...

https://www.waywordradio.org/boss-of-me/

Baseball has a language all its own: On the diamond, a snow cone isn’t what you think it is, and three blind mice has nothing to do with nursery rhymes. And how do you describe someone who ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sunny-side-up/

What’s the best way for someone busy to learn lots of new words quickly for a test like the GRE? Looking up their origins can help. Or, record yourself reading the words and definitions and pla...

https://www.waywordradio.org/naked-as-a-jaybird/

Why do we call a frankfurter a "hot dog"? It seems an unsettling 19th-century rumor is to blame. Also, if someone quits something abruptly, why do we say they quit "cold turkey"? This term's root...

http://awww.libsyn.com/hot-dog-cold-turkey-29-may-2017

A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who's there? Boo. Well… you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goof...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spur-of-the-moment/

Victorian slang and a modern controversy over language and gender. In the early 1900’s, a door-knocker wasn’t just what visitors used to announce their arrival, it was a type of beard with a ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hell-for-leather/

The months of September, October, November, and December take their names from Latin words meaning "seven," "eight," "nine," and "ten." So why don't their names correspond to where they fall in t...

http://awww.libsyn.com/skeddale-8-may-2016

When it comes to learning new things, what’s on your bucket list? A retired book editor decided to try to learn Latin, and ended up learning a lot about herself. There’s a word for someone wh...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pop-stand/

In the military, if you’ve lost the bubble, then you can’t find your bearings. The term first referred to calibrating the position of aircraft and submarines. • The phrase the coast is cl...

https://www.waywordradio.org/coast-is-clear/

Books for sale, books for free, and wisdom passed down through the ages. Libraries aren’t just repositories for books — they’re often a great place to find gently used volumes for sale. Or ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/punch-list/

In deafening workplaces, like sawmills and factories, workers develop their own elaborate sign language to discuss everything from how their weekend went to when the boss is on his way. Plus, E...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sweet-dreams/

This week on A Way with Words: Restaurant jargon, military slang, and modern Greek turns of phrase. • Some restaurants now advertise that they sell “clean” sandwiches. But that doesn’t m...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gone-to-seed/

Hundreds of years ago, the word girl didn’t necessarily mean a female child — in the 14th and 15th centuries, it could refer to a child of either sex. Only later did its meaning become more...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hells-half-acre/

This week: Do you ever find yourself less-than-specific about your age? Listeners share some of their favorite phrases for fudging that number, like: “Oh, I’m 29, plus shipping and handling.�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/steamed-bun/

Sensuous words and terms of endearment. Think of a beautiful word. Now, is it simply the word’s sound that makes it beautiful? Or does its appeal also depend on meaning? Also, pet names for lov...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gangbusters/

How often do you hear the words campaign and political in the same breath? Oddly enough, 19th-century grammarians railed against using campaign to mean “an electoral contest.” Martha an...

https://www.waywordradio.org/xyz-pdq/

Choosing language that helps resolve interpersonal conflict. Sometimes a question is really just a veiled form of criticism and understanding the difference between “ask culture” and “guess...

https://www.waywordradio.org/charismatic-megafauna/

A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So why is it a pejorative term for those of a certain political persuasion? Also, is there something wrong with the phrase committed suicide?...

https://www.waywordradio.org/knuckle-down/

The words we choose can change attitudes — and change lives. A swing-dance instructor has switched to gender-neutral language when teaching couples. He says that using words like “leader” a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/lie-like-a-rug/

Wrapping up 2016 with words from the past year and some newsy limericks. Bigly and Brexit were on lots of lips this year, as well as an increasingly popular Danish word that means “cozy.” Als...

https://www.waywordradio.org/flee-fly-flo/

 In 2007, the public media organization that created A Way with Words had a problem. They loved our show but a deep recession meant the station couldn't afford to keep producing it. So they ...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/2016-Help-A-Way-with-Words-Now.mp3

Brand names, children’s games, and the etiquette of phone conversations. Those clever plastic PEZ dispensers come in all shapes and sizes—but where did the word PEZ come from? The popular c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/copacetic/

The language and melodies of military marching songs connect grown children with their parents who served, as do parents’ love letters from World War II. Plus, “running a sandy” describes a...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistle-in-the-dark/

When does a word’s past make it too sensitive to use in the present? In contra dancing, there’s a particular move that dancers traditionally call a gypsy. But there’s a growing recognition...

https://www.waywordradio.org/put-some-mustard-on-it/

Novelist Charles Dickens created many unforgettable characters, but he’s also responsible for coining or popularizing lots of words, like “flummox” and “butterfingers.” Also, the life�...

https://www.waywordradio.org/stars-and-garters/

If you want to be a better writer, try skipping today’s bestsellers, and read one from the 1930’s instead. Or read something besides fiction in order to find your own metaphors and perspectiv...

https://www.waywordradio.org/boss-of-me/

Baseball has a language all its own: On the diamond, a snow cone isn’t what you think it is, and three blind mice has nothing to do with nursery rhymes. And how do you describe someone who ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sunny-side-up/

A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who's there? Boo. Well… you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goof...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spur-of-the-moment/

Victorian slang and a modern controversy over language and gender. In the early 1900’s, a door-knocker wasn’t just what visitors used to announce their arrival, it was a type of beard with a ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hell-for-leather/

When writing textbooks about slavery, which words best reflect its cold, hard reality? Some historians are dropping the word slave in favor of terms like enslaved person and captive, arguing...

https://www.waywordradio.org/busted-melon-2/

To transmit information during wartime, various industries used to encode their messages letter by letter with an elaborate system–a primitive version of today’s digital encryption. Grant bre...

https://www.waywordradio.org/jump-steady-2/

The dilemma continues over how to spell dilemma! Grant and Martha try to suss out the backstory of why some people spell that word with an “n.” A lot of them, it seems, went to Catholic scho...

https://www.waywordradio.org/scat-cat-2/

Please donate to A Way With Words.  Thank you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

http://awww.libsyn.com/listening-is-only-half-of-it-18-september-2016

Please donate to A Way With Words.  Visit http://waywordradio.org for more info.  Thanks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

http://awww.libsyn.com/summer-2016-fundraising-podcast-1-14-september-2016

It’s hard enough to get a new word into the dictionary. But what happens when lawmakers get involved? New Jersey legislators passed a resolution as part of an anti-bullying campaign urging dict...

https://www.waywordradio.org/tennessee-top-hat/

Can language change bad behavior in crowded places? The Irish Railway system has launched an ad campaign to encourage passengers to be more generous at boarding time. For example, have you ever r...

https://www.waywordradio.org/beat-the-band/

What’s in a mascot name? Maybe you’re a fan of the Banana Slugs, or you cheer for the Winged Beavers. Perhaps your loyalty lies with the Fighting Artichokes. There are some strange names for ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/fighting-artichokes/

The slang coming out of Victorian mouths was more colorful than you might think. A 1909 collection of contemporary slang records clever terms for everything from a bald head to the act of sidling...

https://www.waywordradio.org/burn-bag/

First-century graffiti. People in ancient times could be just as bawdy and colorful as we are today. To prove it, we found some graffiti written on the walls in the city of Pompeii, and found ple...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spit-game/

When it comes to learning new things, what’s on your bucket list? A retired book editor decided to try to learn Latin, and ended up learning a lot about herself. There’s a word for someone wh...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pop-stand/

Books for sale, books for free, and wisdom passed down through the ages. Libraries aren’t just repositories for books — they’re often a great place to find gently used volumes for sale. Or ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/punch-list/

If you don’t have anything nice to say, say it like Shakespeare: Thou unhandsome smush-mouthed mush-rump! Thou obscene rug-headed hornbeast! The Shakespeare Insult Generator helps you craft c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/shakespeares-insults/

Right off the bat, it’s easy to think of several everyday expressions that derive from America’s pastime–including “right off the bat.” The Dickson Baseball Dictionary catalogues not ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pebble-picker-2/

Ever try to write a well-known passage in limerick form? It’s harder than you think. How about this one: “There once was a lady who’s sure / All that glitters is golden and pure/ There’s ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/there-once-was-a-gal/

In deafening workplaces, like sawmills and factories, workers develop their own elaborate sign language to discuss everything from how their weekend went to when the boss is on his way. Plus, E...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sweet-dreams/

If you’re serious about writing a memoir, what topics should you include, and what can you leave out? And how honest can you really be about the other people in your life? Some of America’s l...

https://www.waywordradio.org/how-we-roll/

Sharing a secret language. Did you ever speak in gibberish with a childhood pal, adding extra syllables to words so the adults couldn’t understand what you were saying? Such wordplay isn’t ju...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hectors-pup/

Sensuous words and terms of endearment. Think of a beautiful word. Now, is it simply the word’s sound that makes it beautiful? Or does its appeal also depend on meaning? Also, pet names for lov...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gangbusters/

How often do you hear the words campaign and political in the same breath? Oddly enough, 19th-century grammarians railed against using campaign to mean “an electoral contest.” Martha an...

https://www.waywordradio.org/xyz-pdq/

Would you rather live in a world with no adjectives … or no verbs — and why? Also, who in the world is that director Alan Smithee who made decades’ of crummy films? Turns out that if a mov...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pickle-seeder-2/

We often hear that English is going to hell in a handbasket. Actually, though, linguistic handwringing about sinking standards and sloppy speech has been going on for centuries – at least as fa...

https://www.waywordradio.org/green-eyed-monster/

A recent study found that some names crop up more frequently than others in certain professions. The name William is especially common among attorneys–and graphic designers include a higher-tha...

https://www.waywordradio.org/idioms-delight/

Writers and where they do their best creative work. A new book on Geoffrey Chaucer describes the dark, cramped, smelly room where he wrote his early work. Which raises the question: What kind of...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistle-britches/

Brand names, children’s games, and the etiquette of phone conversations. Those clever plastic PEZ dispensers come in all shapes and sizes—but where did the word PEZ come from? The popular c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/copacetic/

When does a word’s past make it too sensitive to use in the present? In contra dancing, there’s a particular move that dancers traditionally call a gypsy. But there’s a growing recognition...

https://www.waywordradio.org/put-some-mustard-on-it/

Is there a word you keep having to look up in the dictionary, no matter how many times you’ve looked it up before? Maybe it’s time for a mnemonic device. And: a listener shares a letter from ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/noon-balloon-to-rangoon/

If you’re sending out party invitations, what’s a sure-fire way to get hold of everyone? Email? Snailmail? Facebook? Texting? Twitter? Or a plain old-fashioned phone call? Different folks hav...

https://www.waywordradio.org/catch-my-fade/

It’s time for book recommendations! Martha’s enjoying an armchair tour of important places in the history of our language, and Grant recommends relaxing with books that make great reading for...

https://www.waywordradio.org/buckle-down/

Creative communication in a noisy world! Writing a clever 140-character tweet isn’t easy. But you know what’s even more impressive? Working all 26 letters of the alphabet into just one senten...

https://www.waywordradio.org/an-ear-for-wine/

Bathroom walls, missing graffiti, and social media. Where have all the cute quips on bathroom stalls gone? We wonder about the apparent decline of restroom graffiti. Are people saving their witt...

https://www.waywordradio.org/electric-hootenanny/

Gifts for book lovers: Martha recommends one for lovers of libraries and another for students of Spanish. Grant suggests some enchanting novels for young readers. When it comes to books, though, ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/wolf-whistle/

When writing textbooks about slavery, which words best reflect its cold, hard reality? Some historians are dropping the word slave in favor of terms like enslaved person and captive, arguing...

https://www.waywordradio.org/busted-melon-2/

The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What’s the...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hells-bells/

To transmit information during wartime, various industries used to encode their messages letter by letter with an elaborate system–a primitive version of today’s digital encryption. Grant bre...

https://www.waywordradio.org/jump-steady-2/

What a difference pronunciation makes! The United States has a Department of Defense, and an individual might take classes in self-defense. So why do football and basketball coaches say they're p...

http://awww.libsyn.com/ill-be-sheep-dipped-rebroadcast-16-november-2015

If you’re on tenterhooks, it means you’re in a state of anxious anticipation or suspense. But what IS a tenterhook? The answer goes back to a 15th-century manufacturing process. Also, you pr...

https://www.waywordradio.org/month-of-sundays/

The dilemma continues over how to spell dilemma! Grant and Martha try to suss out the backstory of why some people spell that word with an “n.” A lot of them, it seems, went to Catholic scho...

https://www.waywordradio.org/scat-cat-2/

It’s hard enough to get a new word into the dictionary. But what happens when lawmakers get involved? New Jersey legislators passed a resolution as part of an anti-bullying campaign urging dict...

https://www.waywordradio.org/tennessee-top-hat/

Can language change bad behavior in crowded places? The Irish Railway system has launched an ad campaign to encourage passengers to be more generous at boarding time. For example, have you ever r...

https://www.waywordradio.org/beat-the-band/

What’s in a mascot name? Maybe you’re a fan of the Banana Slugs, or you cheer for the Winged Beavers. Perhaps your loyalty lies with the Fighting Artichokes. There are some strange names for ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/fighting-artichokes/

The slang coming out of Victorian mouths was more colorful than you might think. A 1909 collection of contemporary slang records clever terms for everything from a bald head to the act of sidling...

https://www.waywordradio.org/burn-bag/

Giving your baby an unusual moniker may seem like a great idea at the time. But what if you have second thoughts? One mother of a newborn had such bad namer's remorse, she poured out her heart to...

https://www.waywordradio.org/upstairs-basement/

What’s so special about the phrase Sit on a pan, Otis? It’s an example of a palindrome — a word or phrase that’s spelled the same backwards as it is forwards. This year’s contest kno...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hang-a-salami/

The SAT is changing things up, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just because words like membranous are no longer in the verbal section doesn’t mean kids aren’t learning important v...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hard-words-are-hard/

It used to be that you called any mixed-breed dog a mutt. But at today's dog parks, you're just as likely to run into schnugs, bassadors, and dalmadoodles. Also, if someone has a suntan, you migh...

https://www.waywordradio.org/brown-as-a-berry/

If everyone on the planet spoke a single language, wouldn't that make life a whole lot easier? For that matter, is a common world language even possible? Maybe for a minute or so—until new word...

https://www.waywordradio.org/keep-your-pants-on/

Springtime is the right time to feel twitterpated—you know, you’re smitten beyond a crush. Speaking of relationships, are dog owners really owners, or should they call themselves something ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/springtime-twitterpation/

Is it cheating to say you’ve read a book if you only listened to it on tape? Over the centuries, the way we think about reading has changed a lot. There was a time, for example, when reading si...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dust-bunnies/

You’re at a social gathering and meet someone you’d like to know better. What do you ask to get a real conversation going? Some people lead with “What do you do?,” while others avoid talk...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sound-of-a-kiss/

Hyperbolic Headlines Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity!!!! Or maybe not. You’ve seen those breathless headlines on the internet, like “You Won’t Believe What This 7-year-old Said to The P...

https://www.waywordradio.org/feeling-gruntled/

First-century graffiti. People in ancient times could be just as bawdy and colorful as we are today. To prove it, we found some graffiti written on the walls in the city of Pompeii, and found ple...

https://www.waywordradio.org/spit-game/

Dude! We’re used to hearing the word “dude” applied to guys. But increasingly, young women use the word “dude” to address each other. Grant and Martha talk about linguistic research abo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/by-the-seat-of-your-pants/

For language lovers, it’s like New Year’s, Fourth of July, and the Super Bowl all rolled into one: The brand-new online edition of the Dictionary of American Regional English. Martha and Gra...

https://www.waywordradio.org/how-america-talks/

We all lead busy lives—so are speed reading courses a good idea? Plus, if you hear someone speaking with a British accent, do you tend to assume they’re somehow more intelligent? And some com...

https://www.waywordradio.org/thrown-for-a-loop/

If you don’t have anything nice to say, say it like Shakespeare: Thou unhandsome smush-mouthed mush-rump! Thou obscene rug-headed hornbeast! The Shakespeare Insult Generator helps you craft c...

https://www.waywordradio.org/shakespeares-insults/

If an older man and woman spend lots of time together, going to family gatherings and the like, but they’re NOT dating, what do you call their relationship? Best friends? Dear friends? Or . ....

https://www.waywordradio.org/not-quite-a-boyfriend/

Right off the bat, it’s easy to think of several everyday expressions that derive from America’s pastime–including “right off the bat.” The Dickson Baseball Dictionary catalogues not ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pebble-picker-2/

Ever try to write a well-known passage in limerick form? It’s harder than you think. How about this one: “There once was a lady who’s sure / All that glitters is golden and pure/ There’s ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/there-once-was-a-gal/

What the fox says may be a mystery, but we do know that dogs bark differently around the world. In China, for example, they say not bow-wow but wang wang. Also, the story behind the British t...

https://www.waywordradio.org/wet-brick/

Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature — like, say, Dante’s Inferno? A literary website is doing just th...

https://www.waywordradio.org/catbird-seat/

Sharing a secret language. Did you ever speak in gibberish with a childhood pal, adding extra syllables to words so the adults couldn’t understand what you were saying? Such wordplay isn’t ju...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hectors-pup/

What do your pronouns say about your own psychological makeup? If you use the word I a lot, does it mean you’re a leader . . . or a follower? A surprising study suggests that people of lower ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/jumped-up-bald-headed/

If you’re nibbling on slippery Jims or sipping sweet soup, chances are you’re in the Badger State. It’s the language of Wisconsin — explained at last. Also, the famous abolitionist who...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ill-be-your-boo/

Would you rather live in a world with no adjectives … or no verbs — and why? Also, who in the world is that director Alan Smithee who made decades’ of crummy films? Turns out that if a mov...

https://www.waywordradio.org/pickle-seeder-2/

We often hear that English is going to hell in a handbasket. Actually, though, linguistic handwringing about sinking standards and sloppy speech has been going on for centuries – at least as fa...

https://www.waywordradio.org/green-eyed-monster/

A recent study found that some names crop up more frequently than others in certain professions. The name William is especially common among attorneys–and graphic designers include a higher-tha...

https://www.waywordradio.org/idioms-delight/

Writers and where they do their best creative work. A new book on Geoffrey Chaucer describes the dark, cramped, smelly room where he wrote his early work. Which raises the question: What kind of...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistle-britches/

Is there a word you keep having to look up in the dictionary, no matter how many times you’ve looked it up before? Maybe it’s time for a mnemonic device. And: a listener shares a letter from ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/noon-balloon-to-rangoon/

There’s a new kind of hamburger menu that involves pixels, not pickles. It’s that little stack of horizontal lines in the corner of a webpage that you click to see more options. You might use...

https://www.waywordradio.org/above-your-raisin/

It’s the art of constructive feedback: If you’re a teacher with a mountain of papers to grade, you may find yourself puzzling over which kinds of notes in the margins work best. Martha and Gr...

https://www.waywordradio.org/monkeys-wedding/

Sure, it’s scary to send your writing to a literary agent. But pity the poor agent who must wade through hundreds of terrible query letters a week! One of them shares excerpts from those hilari...

https://www.waywordradio.org/writerly-insults/

You pick up what you think a glass of water and take a sip, but it turns out to be Sprite. What’s the word for that sensation when you’re expecting one thing and taste something else? Also, s...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mr-cant-died/

Why call it a doggy bag when it’s really for your husband? Grant and Martha talk about the language of leftovers and why we eat beef and not cow. And how old is the typical public-library ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/drop-a-dime/

You walk into a used bookstore, or pull down an old volume at the library, and there it is: The smell of old books. If you detect notes of vanilla in that intoxicating scent, there’s a reason. ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/that-old-book-smell/

If you’re sending out party invitations, what’s a sure-fire way to get hold of everyone? Email? Snailmail? Facebook? Texting? Twitter? Or a plain old-fashioned phone call? Different folks hav...

https://www.waywordradio.org/catch-my-fade/

Give Now! http://waywordradio.org/donate   Dear friends and listeners, As we near the end of our biggest year yet, we must raise $75,000 to cover the remainder of this season. We need your hel...

http://awww.libsyn.com/an-urgent-need-from-a-way-with-words

It’s time for book recommendations! Martha’s enjoying an armchair tour of important places in the history of our language, and Grant recommends relaxing with books that make great reading for...

https://www.waywordradio.org/buckle-down/

It’s the business of business jargon. Say you’re in line at the drugstore. Does it bother you if the cashier says, “Next guest”? In department stores and coffeeshops, does the term “gue...

https://www.waywordradio.org/polyglot-problems/

A pint-sized mad scientist, a green-haired girl with a contagious sense of wonder, and a 10-year-old detective. They’re all characters in the books on Grant’s latest list of recommended books...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ride-the-merry-go-round/

Some people proudly embrace the label cancer survivor, while others feel that’s not quite the right word. Is there a better term for someone who’s battled cancer? Writers and listeners share...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bouncy-house-of-language/

Creative communication in a noisy world! Writing a clever 140-character tweet isn’t easy. But you know what’s even more impressive? Working all 26 letters of the alphabet into just one senten...

https://www.waywordradio.org/an-ear-for-wine/

Bathroom walls, missing graffiti, and social media. Where have all the cute quips on bathroom stalls gone? We wonder about the apparent decline of restroom graffiti. Are people saving their witt...

https://www.waywordradio.org/electric-hootenanny/

The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What’s the...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hells-bells/

If you’re on tenterhooks, it means you’re in a state of anxious anticipation or suspense. But what IS a tenterhook? The answer goes back to a 15th-century manufacturing process. Also, you pr...

https://www.waywordradio.org/month-of-sundays/

First names like “Patience,” “Hope,” and “Charity” are inspired by worthy qualities. But how about “Be-courteous” or “Hate-evil”? The Puritans sometimes gave children such nam...

https://www.waywordradio.org/on-the-shoe-phone/

Starting this year, Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants not only have to spell words correctly. A controversial new rule means they’ll have to answer vocabulary questions, too. Also, when...

https://www.waywordradio.org/got-your-six-2/

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait–is that right? Or would it be “who ya gonna call”? “Whom” may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/a-hole-to-china/

Today’s most popular dog names are Max and Bella. In the Middle Ages, though, dogs would answer to names like Amiable. Or Nosewise. Or even … Clench. ? Is the term redneck derogatory?...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistling-dixie/

It’s the Up Goer Five Challenge! Try to describe something complex using only the thousand most common words in English. It’s a useful mental exercise that’s harder than you might think. A...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gnarly-foot/

Remember a few years ago when Amazon introduced that mysterious device called a Kindle? People worried that electronic readers would replace traditional books. Turns out the death of the hardcove...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bump-and-grind/

When somebody sneezes, we say bless you or gesundheit. But suppose that person coughs. Are you supposed to say something — or are they? Plus, Mexican standoffs, gracious plenty, linguistic...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gracious-plenty/

Giving your baby an unusual moniker may seem like a great idea at the time. But what if you have second thoughts? One mother of a newborn had such bad namer's remorse, she poured out her heart to...

https://www.waywordradio.org/upstairs-basement/

What’s so special about the phrase Sit on a pan, Otis? It’s an example of a palindrome — a word or phrase that’s spelled the same backwards as it is forwards. This year’s contest kno...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hang-a-salami/

The SAT is changing things up, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just because words like membranous are no longer in the verbal section doesn’t mean kids aren’t learning important v...

https://www.waywordradio.org/hard-words-are-hard/

It used to be that you called any mixed-breed dog a mutt. But at today's dog parks, you're just as likely to run into schnugs, bassadors, and dalmadoodles. Also, if someone has a suntan, you migh...

https://www.waywordradio.org/brown-as-a-berry/

If everyone on the planet spoke a single language, wouldn't that make life a whole lot easier? For that matter, is a common world language even possible? Maybe for a minute or so—until new word...

https://www.waywordradio.org/keep-your-pants-on/

Springtime is the right time to feel twitterpated—you know, you’re smitten beyond a crush. Speaking of relationships, are dog owners really owners, or should they call themselves something ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/springtime-twitterpation/

Is it cheating to say you’ve read a book if you only listened to it on tape? Over the centuries, the way we think about reading has changed a lot. There was a time, for example, when reading si...

https://www.waywordradio.org/dust-bunnies/

You’re at a social gathering and meet someone you’d like to know better. What do you ask to get a real conversation going? Some people lead with “What do you do?,” while others avoid talk...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sound-of-a-kiss/

The Pope is tweeting in Latin! But can an ancient language adapt to a world of selfies and hashtags? Speaking of the future, cars are now talking to each other with V-2-V communication. And pit b...

http://awww.libsyn.com/blow-a-gasket-10-march-2014

Hyperbolic Headlines Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity!!!! Or maybe not. You’ve seen those breathless headlines on the internet, like “You Won’t Believe What This 7-year-old Said to The P...

https://www.waywordradio.org/feeling-gruntled/

Is it time to replace the expression “the mentally ill”? Some argue the term unfairly stigmatizes a broad range of people. Also, the winter sport of… skitching, which involves snowy roads,...

https://www.waywordradio.org/the-big-cheese/

Dude! We’re used to hearing the word “dude” applied to guys. But increasingly, young women use the word “dude” to address each other. Grant and Martha talk about linguistic research abo...

https://www.waywordradio.org/by-the-seat-of-your-pants/

For language lovers, it’s like New Year’s, Fourth of July, and the Super Bowl all rolled into one: The brand-new online edition of the Dictionary of American Regional English. Martha and Gra...

https://www.waywordradio.org/how-america-talks/

It’s the business of business jargon. Say you’re in line at the drugstore. Does it bother you if the cashier says, “Next guest”? In department stores and coffeeshops, does the term “gue...

https://www.waywordradio.org/polyglot-problems/

A pint-sized mad scientist, a green-haired girl with a contagious sense of wonder, and a 10-year-old detective. They’re all characters in the books on Grant’s latest list of recommended books...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ride-the-merry-go-round/

Some people proudly embrace the label cancer survivor, while others feel that’s not quite the right word. Is there a better term for someone who’s battled cancer? Writers and listeners share...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bouncy-house-of-language/

First names like “Patience,” “Hope,” and “Charity” are inspired by worthy qualities. But how about “Be-courteous” or “Hate-evil”? The Puritans sometimes gave children such nam...

https://www.waywordradio.org/on-the-shoe-phone/

We all lead busy lives—so are speed reading courses a good idea? Plus, if you hear someone speaking with a British accent, do you tend to assume they’re somehow more intelligent? And some com...

https://www.waywordradio.org/thrown-for-a-loop/

You’re in a business meeting. Is it bad manners to take out your phone to send or read a text? A new study suggests that how you feel about mid-meeting texting differs depending on your age and...

https://www.waywordradio.org/sexy-prunes/

If an older man and woman spend lots of time together, going to family gatherings and the like, but they’re NOT dating, what do you call their relationship? Best friends? Dear friends? Or . ....

https://www.waywordradio.org/not-quite-a-boyfriend/

Starting this year, Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants not only have to spell words correctly. A controversial new rule means they’ll have to answer vocabulary questions, too. Also, when...

https://www.waywordradio.org/got-your-six-2/

What the fox says may be a mystery, but we do know that dogs bark differently around the world. In China, for example, they say not bow-wow but wang wang. Also, the story behind the British t...

https://www.waywordradio.org/wet-brick/

Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature — like, say, Dante’s Inferno? A literary website is doing just th...

https://www.waywordradio.org/catbird-seat/

What do your pronouns say about your own psychological makeup? If you use the word I a lot, does it mean you’re a leader . . . or a follower? A surprising study suggests that people of lower ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/jumped-up-bald-headed/

If you’re nibbling on slippery Jims or sipping sweet soup, chances are you’re in the Badger State. It’s the language of Wisconsin — explained at last. Also, the famous abolitionist who...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ill-be-your-boo/

It’s the art of constructive feedback: If you’re a teacher with a mountain of papers to grade, you may find yourself puzzling over which kinds of notes in the margins work best. Martha and Gr...

https://www.waywordradio.org/monkeys-wedding/

Sure, it’s scary to send your writing to a literary agent. But pity the poor agent who must wade through hundreds of terrible query letters a week! One of them shares excerpts from those hilari...

https://www.waywordradio.org/writerly-insults/

You pick up what you think a glass of water and take a sip, but it turns out to be Sprite. What’s the word for that sensation when you’re expecting one thing and taste something else? Also, s...

https://www.waywordradio.org/mr-cant-died/

Why call it a doggy bag when it’s really for your husband? Grant and Martha talk about the language of leftovers and why we eat beef and not cow. And how old is the typical public-library ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/drop-a-dime/

You walk into a used bookstore, or pull down an old volume at the library, and there it is: The smell of old books. If you detect notes of vanilla in that intoxicating scent, there’s a reason. ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/that-old-book-smell/

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait–is that right? Or would it be “who ya gonna call”? “Whom” may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/a-hole-to-china/

Today’s most popular dog names are Max and Bella. In the Middle Ages, though, dogs would answer to names like Amiable. Or Nosewise. Or even … Clench. ? Is the term redneck derogatory?...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistling-dixie/

It’s the Up Goer Five Challenge! Try to describe something complex using only the thousand most common words in English. It’s a useful mental exercise that’s harder than you might think. A...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gnarly-foot/

Remember a few years ago when Amazon introduced that mysterious device called a Kindle? People worried that electronic readers would replace traditional books. Turns out the death of the hardcove...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bump-and-grind/

When somebody sneezes, we say bless you or gesundheit. But suppose that person coughs. Are you supposed to say something — or are they? Plus, Mexican standoffs, gracious plenty, linguistic...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gracious-plenty/

Looking for a book to read with the kids, or maybe a guide to becoming a better writer? Why are leg cramps called charley horses? And where’d we get a phrase like pie in the sky? If you happe...

http://awww.libsyn.com/pie-in-the-sky-rebroadcast-august-3-2013

It’s the business of business jargon. Say you’re in line at the drugstore. Does it bother you if the cashier says, “Next guest”? In department stores and coffeeshops, does the term “gue...

https://www.waywordradio.org/polyglot-problems/

A pint-sized mad scientist, a green-haired girl with a contagious sense of wonder, and a 10-year-old detective. They’re all characters in the books on Grant’s latest list of recommended books...

https://www.waywordradio.org/ride-the-merry-go-round/

Some people proudly embrace the label cancer survivor, while others feel that’s not quite the right word. Is there a better term for someone who’s battled cancer? Writers and listeners share...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bouncy-house-of-language/

First names like “Patience,” “Hope,” and “Charity” are inspired by worthy qualities. But how about “Be-courteous” or “Hate-evil”? The Puritans sometimes gave children such nam...

http://awww.libsyn.com/on-the-shoe-phone-3-june-2013

Starting this year, Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants not only have to spell words correctly. A controversial new rule means they’ll have to answer vocabulary questions, too. Also, when...

https://www.waywordradio.org/got-your-six-2/

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait–is that right? Or would it be “who ya gonna call”? “Whom” may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you ...

https://www.waywordradio.org/a-hole-to-china/

Today’s most popular dog names are Max and Bella. In the Middle Ages, though, dogs would answer to names like Amiable. Or Nosewise. Or even … Clench. ? Is the term redneck derogatory?...

https://www.waywordradio.org/whistling-dixie/

It’s the Up Goer Five Challenge! Try to describe something complex using only the thousand most common words in English. It’s a useful mental exercise that’s harder than you might think. A...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gnarly-foot/

Remember a few years ago when Amazon introduced that mysterious device called a Kindle? People worried that electronic readers would replace traditional books. Turns out the death of the hardcove...

https://www.waywordradio.org/bump-and-grind/

When somebody sneezes, we say bless you or gesundheit. But suppose that person coughs. Are you supposed to say something — or are they? Plus, Mexican standoffs, gracious plenty, linguistic...

https://www.waywordradio.org/gracious-plenty/

This year, generous gifts from people like you made a difference: We're producing more new episodes than ever. We're taking our mission into communities by partnering with educational and cultura...

http://awww.libsyn.com/help-support-a-way-with-words-today

Get out your skinny jeans and pass the PBR! Martha and Grant discuss the definition of the word hipster. Also, what happens when you pull a brodie? And why do we describe something cheap or poorl...

http://awww.libsyn.com/whats-a-hipster

Give Now for the $25,000 Fundraising Challenge Dear friends and listeners, As we near the end of our biggest year yet, we must raise $25,000 to cover the remainder of this season. We need your he...

http://awww.libsyn.com/special-request-help-support-a-way-with-words

SUMMARYIs typing two spaces after a period "totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong?" Martha and Grant disagree. Also, is the language of the movie "True Grit" historically accurate? A...

http://awww.libsyn.com/one-space-or-two-rebroadcast-5-september-2011

SUMMARYThis week on "A Way with Words": If you've "seen the elephant," it means you've been in combat. But why an elephant? Also, Martha and Grant discuss some funny idioms in Spanish, including ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/seeing-the-elephant-rebroadcast-29-august-2011

SUMMARYShadowdabbled. Moon-blanched. Augusttremulous. William Faulkner often used odd adjectives like these. But why? Grant and Martha discuss the poetic effects of compressed language. Also, Afr...

http://awww.libsyn.com/eastern-seaboard-west-coast-rebroadcast-22-august-2011

Hot traffic talk! A caller is looking for a word for the point at which you have to reach in order to make it through a stoplight before it turns red. -- A Way with Words is funded by its listene...

http://awww.libsyn.com/red-light-green-light-minicast-17-aug-2011

SUMMARYWhat do the words marathon, paisley, and bikini have in common? They're all words that derive from the names of places. Martha and Grant talk toponyms. Also, what's the difference between ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/nerd-vs-geek-rebroadcast-15-august-2011

A question from a listener on the “A Way with Words” Facebook page has Martha musing about the entomological and etymological connections between the word pupil and the pupal stage of an inse...

http://awww.libsyn.com/of-pupae-and-pupils-minicast-10-aug-2011

What's the one word that comes to mind when you hear the name J. D. Salinger? "Masterpiece"? "Recluse"? How about the "F-word"?  An Indianapolis listener came across an article about Salinger's ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/infix-is-just-another-word-for-fanfreakintastic-minicast-3-aug-2011

SUMMARY Ready for some crazy crossword clues? The hosts discuss some clever ones, like "Hula hoop?" (3 letters). Also, is the correct term jury-rigged or jerry-rigged? Why are Marines called Gyre...

http://awww.libsyn.com/cannibal-sandwich-anyone-rebroadcast-1-august-2011

SUMMARYEnglish is full of unusual terms, both old (eleemosynary, favonian) and new (flyway, catio). Also, the Swahili term that means "sleep like a log," the multiple meanings of the word joint, ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/guess-what-rebroadcast-25-july-2011

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 Hou...

http://awww.libsyn.com/beanplating-the-lunatic-fringe-rebroadcast-18-july-2011

SUMMARYSome of the world's most famous writers had to support themselves with day jobs. Martha and Grant discuss well-known authors who toiled away at other trades. Also this week, Eskimo kisses,...

http://awww.libsyn.com/who-is-chester-drawers-11-july-2011

SUMMARYRemember misunderstanding certain words as a child? Maybe you figured "cat burglars" only stole cats, or assumed guerrilla fighters must be angry apes. Martha and Grant discuss childhood m...

http://awww.libsyn.com/a-yankee-dime-4-july-2011

SUMMARYHow much humor and personality can you pack into a 140-character update? A lot, it turns out. Martha and Grant talk about funny Twitter feeds. Also this week, the origins of skosh and can'...

http://awww.libsyn.com/tweet-nothings-13-june-2011

SUMMARYAnagrams, rebuses, cryptograms, Jumble -- 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 ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/tend-to-the-rat-killin-6-june-2011

SUMMARYNews reports that the makers of Scrabble were changing the rules to allow proper names left some purists fuming. The rumors were false, but they got Grant thinking about idiosyncratic adap...

http://awww.libsyn.com/everything-is-tickety-boo-9-may-2011

SUMMARY Digital timepieces may be changing the way we talk, at least a little. There's Bob o'clock (8:08), Big o'clock (8:19), and even Pi o'clock. Also this week, what do you call that gesture ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/like-death-eating-a-cracker-rebroadcast-25-apr-2011

SUMMARYA few pickles short of a jar, a few peas short of a casserole, two French fries short of a Happy Meal -- this week, Martha and Grant discuss these and other full-deckisms, those clever way...

http://awww.libsyn.com/a-pickle-short-of-a-jar-rebroadcast-20-apr-2011-

"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 sha...

http://awww.libsyn.com/sailor-s-delight-rebroadcast-21-march-2011

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 w...

http://awww.libsyn.com/sufficiently-suffonsified-rebroadcast-31-jan-2011

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...

http://awww.libsyn.com/word-up-17-jan-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 wo...

http://awww.libsyn.com/the-thought-plickens-rebroadcast-3-jan-2010

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"...

http://awww.libsyn.com/too-much-sugar-for-a-dime-20-dec-2010

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...

http://awww.libsyn.com/anaheim-asuza-and-cuck-a-monga-rebroadcast-6-dec-2010

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 t...

http://awww.libsyn.com/zig-zag-and-shilly-shally-rebroadcast-29-nov-2010

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," ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/a-roberta-of-flax-22-nov-2010

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 n...

http://awww.libsyn.com/npr-puzzlemaster-will-shortz-16-nov-2010

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 app...

http://awww.libsyn.com/words-of-the-year-15-nov-2010

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 Hou...

http://awww.libsyn.com/lunatic-fringe-25-oct-2010

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 bu...

http://awww.libsyn.com/drinking-terms-minicast-6-oct-2010

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 p...

http://awww.libsyn.com/a-louse-in-a-wrestling-jacket-4-oct-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? A...

http://awww.libsyn.com/a-gazelle-on-the-lawn-rebroadcast-13-sept-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," "spe...

http://awww.libsyn.com/spendthrift_snollygosters_rebroadcast_16_aug_2010

  Whoever wrote "The Book of Love" neglected to include the handy emoticon

http://awww.libsyn.com/the_language_of_less_than_three_rebroadcast_9_aug_2010

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 rai...

http://awww.libsyn.com/cellar_door_minicast_19_july_2010

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...

http://awww.libsyn.com/what_s_the_possessive_of_y_all_minicast_8_july_2010

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://waywordradi...

http://awww.libsyn.com/not_to_be_confused_with_hieronymus_minicast_30_june_2010

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 Spoofh...

http://awww.libsyn.com/the_fighting_kewpies_un_hunh_rebroadcast_28_june_2010

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 l...

http://awww.libsyn.com/forte_or_for_tay_is_pronunciation_your_strong_suit_minicast_24_june_2010

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 ...

http://awww.libsyn.com/are_you_annoyed_by_embololalia_minicast_18_june_2010

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"?--...

http://awww.libsyn.com/season_and_sea_change_minicast_18_june_2010

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...

http://awww.libsyn.com/get_your_nickels_together_for_a_jitney_supper_7_june_2010

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 he...

https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/awww/100531-AWWW-bless-your-heart.mp3

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 o...

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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 sto...

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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 lek...

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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...

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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, hea...

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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....

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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 si...

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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 conte...

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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 t...

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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 Pas...

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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 y...

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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 Gran...

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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 ri...

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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 euphe...

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Humorist Roy Blount Jr. stops by to try his hand at a slang quiz specifically about Southernisms. Blount, who is president of the Authors Guild, also joined Grant for a wide-ranging conversation ...

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If a restaurant menu states, 'We cook off our potatoes,' what in the heck does that mean? A truck driver who encountered such an announcement at a roadside cafe is still puzzling over what it mea...

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No, it's not the neurological effect of spending too much time researching odd new terms. Slang jang is a tongue-tickling sauce found in East Texas. For more about slang jang, including recipes, ...

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Is it acceptable to make a brand-new adverb simply by adding an -ly to an adjective? A scientist wants to know, and specifically a term she uses, nuclearly. -- Get your language question answered...

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It's a brand-new season of A Way with Words! Grant has big news, too: He's used up his last Metrocard, packed up his belongings, and moved to the Left Coast. He reports on some features of Califo...

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This week, Martha and Grant discuss terms from Australia, including aerial ping-pong, pumpkin squatter, andâkangarooster? They explain the connection between stereotypes and stereos, and why we...

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Does your family have a word for the cardboard tube left over from a roll of toilet paper? A caller says his family refers to them Oh-ah, Oh-ahs. Turns out many families have their own terms for ...

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Many of the world's languages apparently derived from a prehistoric common ancestor known as Indo-European. But since no one ever wrote down a word of it, how do we know what it was like? -- Get ...

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Proverbs pack great truths into a few well-chosen words, no matter which language you speak. Check out this one from Belize: 'Don't call the alligator a big-mouth till you have crossed the river...

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OMG, text messaging! It's destroying the English language, corrupting young minds, turning us into a nation of illiterates. It's probably shrinking the ozone layer, too. Or is it? In his new boo...

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Has the age of email led to an outbreak of exclamation marks? Do women use them more than men? Also, is there a word for the odd feeling when you listen to a radio personality for years, then di...

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Pickle, baboon, cupcake, snorkel, pumpkin, Kalamazoo -- let's face it, some words are just plain funny. But what makes some words funnier than others? Martha and Grant consider this question wit...

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Does it bug you when people talk about themselves in the third person? A caller finds herself mightily annoyed by this habit, which she observes especially among politicians and celebrities. Ther...

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In this downbeat economy, some advertisers are reaching for upbeat language. Take the new Quaker Oats catchphrase, 'Go humans go,' or Coca-Cola's current slogan, 'Open happiness.' Martha and Gra...

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If a colleague repeatedly mispronounces a word, what's the best way to handle it? Should you correct him? Ignore it? Is it possible to discuss the proper way to say something without being rude o...

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The English language has no shortage of words that mean nonsensical talk, including one that's piqued a listener's curiosity: How did flannel come to mean 'empty chatter' or 'hot air,' as in 'Don...

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Why are the names of cars so unimaginative? Grant argues that auto manufacturers might take inspiration from 'ornithology' to build a better car name. (Then again, would you be any less aggravat...

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Why is it that what you say to your family and what they hear are different? If you say 'no,' your child hears 'maybe,' and if you say 'maybe,' she hears 'ask again and again, and yes is just ar...

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An Alabama high-school teacher observes that one of his fellow teachers tends to write words that should be plural as singular, such as 'I graded all 50 test' instead of 'I graded all 50 tests.' ...

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Sure, there's 'Grandma' and 'Grampa,' but there's also 'Gammy,' 'Bumpy,' 'Dadoo,' 'Gre-Gre,' 'Kiki,' 'Kerkel,' 'Monga,' 'Nee-Nee,' 'Pots,' 'Rah-Rah' and 'Woo-Woo.' Martha and Grant talk about th...

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If English isn't your first language, there are lots of ways to learn it, such as memorizing Barack Obama's speech to the 2004 Democratic Convention. Martha and Grant talk about some of the unus...

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A caller wonders why some versions of The Lord's Prayer include the phrase 'forgive us our trespasses,' while others substitute the word 'debt.' -- Get your language question answered on the air!...

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What's the deal with using the two-letter postal code abbreviations for states, instead of the longer, more formal abbreviations? That is, why write IN for Indiana instead of good old Ind.? A cal...

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Does your 'handwriting' look like chicken scratches, calligraphy, or maybe something in between? Martha and Grant discuss the 'state of penmanship,' the phenomenon linguists call 'creaky voice,'...

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Are serial commas always necessary? An English teacher says she was surprised to learn that she and her husband, who's also an English teacher, are giving their students conflicting advice. -- Ge...

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Martha and Grant share a couple of favorite online sources for reading about language: Michael Quinion's World Wide Words newsletter and Arnold Zwicky's blog . Be sure to check out Zwicky's post...

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How can the word 'friend' possibly describe both the people you went to school with *and* the people to whom you are connected through Facebook and MySpace? Are friends on the social sites really...

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'Great Googly Moogly!' A caller wonders where that exclamation comes from. Here's the Snickers commercial that includes the phrase. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSAXLayoMKI -- Get your language...

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A special message for podcast listeners. Also, this just in: The term gunny sack is a pleonasm! Who knew? (So sue us -- we can't help getting excited about that kind of thing.) -- Get your langua...

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Are fairy tales too scary for children? A survey of parents in Britain found that more than half wouldn't read them to their children before age five. Martha and Grant discuss the grisly imagery...

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Why do we say someone is 'on the wagon' when they abstain from drinking alcohol? -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@way...

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President Barack Obama hopes to boost the economy by pouring federal dollars into efforts to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, much like the old Works Progress Administration of the 1930s. Bu...

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Welcome to another minicast from A Way with Words. Iâm Grant Barrett. Hip-hop is high art. Yeah. Thatâs right. And if you donât understand that, then youâre missing out on some of the best p...

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Martha muses about the language of falconry, and in the process, reveals the origins of several words and phrases in one fell swoop. Did you know that a falcon's eyeballs are so huge that they ta...

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Humorist Roy Blount Jr. sits down with Grant for a conversation about the controversy over writers' rights and the Amazon Kindle 2. As president of the Authors Guild, Blount has argued that write...

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This week, we're going through the e-mail bag. Here's a savory, sensuous one. It's from Stacey in Boulder, Colorado. Stacey grew up out West, but says she spent summers and Christmases at the hom...

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What's a 'Hobson's Choice'? If you're facing a Hobson's choice, you don't really have much to choose from. The phrase describes a situation in which your options are either to take what's offered...

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What The Cluck, Part 2 What does the expression egg on have to do with chickens? Nothing, actually. Martha explains why, and tells the story of how the term curate's egg came to mean 'something w...

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This week, we received an email from Randy in San Diego. Randy writes: 'I recently got myself three hens for the back yard as a hobby that I thought my kids would enjoy. I highly recommend backya...

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Recently The New Yorker magazine ran a profile of the writer David Foster Wallace, who died last year at the age of 46. The article included a line that I think Foster himself might have apprecia...

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Martha explains how experiments with dead frogs and live wires led to the invention of the battery, and inspired a couple of familiar English words. I had to change the batteries in my flashlight...

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Apple core, Baltimore! Ever play the rhyming game where you eat an apple, then shout 'apple core,' and then the first person to respond 'Baltimore!' gets to decide where (more specifically, at w...

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Time for another linguistic mystery. Where would you be if you decided to go twacking around duckish, and then you came home and wrote about it in a scribbler? Any idea? If you're going twacking ...

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Time for another linguistic mystery. In what part of the country would you be likely to hear older folks using the following phrases? 'He sure was mommucking his little brother.' And: 'Why, those...

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Time to solve another linguistic mystery. You're in a restaurant. You overhear a conversation at the next table. The woman says to her friend, 'You know, I just love the taste of joe floggers.' A...

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Where in the world would you be likely to find sculch in your dooryard, or ask for just a dite of cream in your coffee? Martha has the answers in this minicast about some distinctive regional ter...

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Obamamania, Obamabot, Obamathon, Obamamentum— the list of variations on the name “Obama” goes on and on. Is there an English word that means “the in-laws of your son or daughter”? And w...

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Listen: Can you guess what this is? 'Huup huup huup . . . huup huup huup . . . huup huup huup.' No, it's not Morse code. Not a baby chimp. It's the sound of the hoopoe. Funny-looking bird, the ho...

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We're continuing our look at some of the words of the year of 2008. Last week we talked about words that came from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Gas prices have been all over the place, but worse st...

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Hockey mom, mavericky, snow machines, and--how could we forget that other memorable phrase from the 2008 presidential campaign?--lipstick on a pig. Some new and not-so-new terms leapt onto the na...

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The death of Martha's favorite cat Typo prompts her to reminisce about him, and about one of her favorite ailurophilic words, chatoyant. My cat Typo was a gray tabby. Greenish-gold eyes, always g...

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We're continuing our look at some of the words of the year of 2008. Last week we talked about "ground game." Another political term that we crossed paths with was PUMA. PUMA is an acronym for Par...

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We're continuing our look at some of the words of the year of 2008.   Being an election year, it generated a huge amount of political language. One expression that was not new, but which certain...

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Here's a bit of political slang now making the rounds: sleepover. No, we're not talking about another pol caught with his pants down. We're talking about spending the night with, well, a voting ...

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We kick off our series on contenders for 2008's "Word of the Year" with a look at "nuke the fridge." The American Dialect Society will hold the 19th annual "Word of the Year" vote in January. It'...

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It's that time again, when people start thinking about a 'new or resurgent word or phrase that best captures the spirit of the past year.' And what a year! We heard the words 'bailout' and 'lipst...

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It's a warm day in late autumn. You're out for a stroll in the country. If the air is still, and the sun is at just the right angle, you may see the glint of spider threads floating lazily in the...

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When you get to the end of a wonderful book, your first impulse is to tell someone else about it. In this week's episode, Martha and Grant discuss what they've been reading and the delights of g...

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Last year British slang lexicographer Jonathon Green struck a deal with the publisher Chambers Harrap to create an exhaustive dictionary of English slang. Now, says the London Telegraph, the firs...

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This week on 'A Way with Words': Feel like having a little 'hair of the dog'? Grant and Martha explain what dog hair has to do with hangover cures. And what do you call it when random objects for...

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Here's a riddle: 'Nature requires five, custom gives seven, laziness takes nine, and wickedness eleven.' Think you know the answer? You'll find it in this week's episode, in which Grant and Marth...

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The British publishers of the Collins dictionary have announced 24 words on their endangered species list. They're words like 'vilipend,' which means 'to treat with contempt,' and 'nitid,' that's...

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Reading the OED from A to Z (minicast) Word nerd Ammon Shea quit his job as a furniture mover in New York City to spend an entire year reading the entire Oxford English Dictionary. The result, in...

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The world of politics tops this week's language headlines, including an explanation of the Bradley effect, and the ongoing debate over bilingual education. Also, what does the word fubsy mean? Gr...

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A listener in Brazil challenges Martha's pronunciation of the odd English word antipodes. Their email exchange leads Martha to muse about a favorite collection of poems, where she first encounter...

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Mmmmmaverick. Maverick, Maverick, Maverick. Maverick, Maverick, Maverick, Maverick. Maverick. Is it just my imagination, or are we hearing this word a whole LOT more lately? You usually hear it a...

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Some people wouldn't be caught without the season's latest fashions, and others never leave home without their asthma inhaler. But for some of us, what strikes fear into our hearts is the thought...

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Does your family use a special word you've never heard anywhere else? A funny name for 'the heel of a loaf of bread,' perhaps, or for 'visiting relatives who won't leave.' In this week's episode...

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A caller from Imperial Beach, California has a punctuation question: Dr. Tei Fu Chen and his wife, Dr. Oi Lin Chen own and operate a large, multinational herbal food company. In company literatur...

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Grant has the latest headlines from the world of language, including the debate over the name of the home of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Is 'Beijing' pronounced 'bay-JING' or 'bay-ZHING'? Also, a r...

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This week Martha and Grant honor winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes, those wacky awards for weird academic research and they help a caller decipher a puzzling word from a personals ad: what does 'pa...

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When is a mango not a mango? Why, when it's a bell pepper, of course! An Indiana listener says she and her Kentucky in-laws have entirely different names for this vegetable. She wants to know why...

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Pass the Gatorade! Martha and Grant work up a sweat this week as they tackle a sports quiz and lob vocabulary questions back and forth. They also settle a family dispute about the pronunciation ...

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Grant dishes up the latest language headlines from around the world. Oh, what a difference a letter can make! The Moscow Times reports this week that Tatyana Tetyorkina was stripped of her Russia...

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If someone calls you 'dibby,' should you be flattered or insulted? You'd know if you were in college a century ago--it's outdated college slang! Also, we are 'voluntold' to play a word puzzle ab...

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For true word nerds, it's a guilty pleasure. You meet a stranger, and you find yourself listening closely to that person's way of speaking as you try to guess the accent. Martha and Grant confess...

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A caller has client who uses what sounds like a strange, three-syllable word: indice. The caller knows that the plural of index is indices. But, he wonders...indice? And should he talk about it w...

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This episode first aired May 5, 2008. ... Have you ever eaten a 'Benedictine sandwich'? Or savored a juicy 'pork steak'? What's a favorite dish you grew up with that may be mystifying to someone ...

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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 li...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 'horseracis...

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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 th...

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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 ...

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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, an...

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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 i...

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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 qu...

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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...

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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 nev...

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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 quest...

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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. S...

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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 da...

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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, ...

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(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...

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(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...

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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...

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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,...

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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...

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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 listener...

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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 ...

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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...

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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 expla...

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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...

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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 y...

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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 ...

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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 o...

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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 t...

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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. Lear...

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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 mor...

https://www.waywordradio.org/podcast-gardentoolism/

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. �...

https://www.waywordradio.org/podcast-what-a-load-of-bunk/

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 na...

https://www.waywordradio.org/the-train-is-servicing-the-station/

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...

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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 cri...

https://www.waywordradio.org/martha-the-secret-lives-of-flowers/