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Magnolia Mouth, Zero Plurals, and Cluster Simplification (minicast) - 22 Ju

Wed, Jul 22 Listen

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.' The reason for this locution has to do with some interesting features of Southern English.--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193...

I, For One, Welcome Our New Robot Overlords - 20 July 2009

Mon, Jul 20 Listen

[This episode first aired March 21, 2009.]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 the endlessly inventive names grandchildren call their grandparents.'They also discuss 'Seinfeldisms,' 'couch potatoes,' and where in the world your car can and will be stopped by robots. Really!You've heard people describe something momentous as 'a watershed...

A Walk Spoiled But Our Lie is Good - 13 July 2009

Mon, Jul 13 Listen

[This episode first aired March 14, 2009.]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 unusual ways foreigners are learning to speak English. Also, a golfer wonders if it's ever proper to say 'I'm going golfing' rather than 'I'm going to play golf.' And they share an easy way to remember the difference between 'lie' and 'lay.'Here's the The New...

Trespasses vs. Debts - 9 July 2009

Thu, Jul 9 Listen

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! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums:...

Postal Abbreviations - 8 July 2009

Wed, Jul 8 Listen

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 caller is annoyed by U.S. Postal Service abbreviations creeping into modern prose, and thinks they should be reserved for postal addresses.--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877)...

Tweet, Tweet! Polly Wanna Cracker! - 6 July 2009

Mon, Jul 6 Listen

[This episode originally aired February 28, 2009.]'Twittering,' 'tweeting,' 'twirting'--it's rare to see a whole new body of language appear right before your eyes. But that's what's happening with 'Twitter.' We discuss the snappy new shorthand of the 'twitterati.' Also, why do people feel compelled to say 'Polly wanna cracker'? whenever they see a parrot? And is it ever okay to 'end a sentence with a preposition'?For a closer look at the language of the 'twitterati,' check out Erin McKean's...

Chicken Scratches and Creaky Voice - 29 June 2009

Mon, Jun 29 Listen

[This episode first aired February 23, 2009.]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,' euphemisms for going to the bathroom, and the New England expression 'I 'hosey' that!' There's a new book out about the history of penmanship. It's called Script Scribble: The Rise and Fall of Handwriting, by Kitty Burns Florey....

A Snarl of Serial Commas - 24 June 2009

Wed, Jun 24 Listen

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.--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast:...

L-U-R-V-E, Love - 22 June 2009

Mon, Jun 22 Listen

[This episode first aired February 14, 2009.]Martha and Grant share a couple of favorite online sources for reading about language: Michael Quinion's World Wide Words newsletter http://www.worldwidewords.org/ and Arnold Zwicky's blog http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/. Be sure to check out Zwicky's post, 'Dialect dangerous to cats' for a look at The Lion Cut http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/dialect-dangerous-to-catsIf you're a Texan, you may be familiar with the phrases 'raise...

That's What "Friend" is For? Minicast - 18 June 2009

Thu, Jun 18 Listen

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 friends? Is there a better word to describe someone who follows you on Twitter? A caller thinks the English language could use some new words to differentiate among varying levels and types of friendship.--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any...

Great Googly Moogly Minicast - 17 June 2009

Wed, Jun 17 Listen

'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 question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums:...

Summer Housekeeping Minicast - 16 June 2009

Tue, Jun 16 Listen

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 language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums:...

Once Upon a Time - June 15, 2009

Mon, Jun 15 Listen

[This episode first aired February 7, 2009.]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 in fairy tales, and whether they're too traumatizing for kids. Also, when did 'dog food' become a verb? And does the word butterfly come from 'flutter by'?How did serialized melodramas come to be called soap operas? The answer has to do with the...

Bogarting Bangers - 8 June 2009

Mon, Jun 8 Listen

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 discover that they look nothing like your mental picture of them? And what's the origin of the verb 'to bogart'?Writing in the 'Guardian,' Stuart Jeffries contends that our email boxes are being infested with exclamation marks http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/29/exclamation-mark-punctuation,...

Falling off the Wagon (minicast) - 3 June 2009

Wed, Jun 3 Listen

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@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter:...

Days of Wine Flights and Mullets - 1 June 2009

Mon, Jun 1 Listen

[This episode first aired January 24, 2009.]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. But how about reviving that other jobs program from the New Deal era: the 'Federal Writers Project.' Martha and Grant discuss the pros and cons of subsidizing writers with taxpayer money.A caller from Juneau, Alaska, says she was tickled when her friend from...

Poets Laureate and Poetry Brothels - 25 May 2009

Mon, May 25 Listen

For 341 years, the poets laureate of Britain have all been male. That just changed with the appointment of Britain's new poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Her work has been described as 'dealing with the darkest turmoil and the lightest minutiae of everyday life.' The hosts discuss Duffy's oddly jarring and sensuous poetry. Also this week, they talk about whether it's ever correct to use the word 'troop' to mean an individual person, and whether the word 'literally' is too often used...

Words With K in Them Are Funny - 18 May 2009

Mon, May 18 Listen

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 with an assist from Neil Simon's play (and movie) 'The Sunshine Boys.' Also in this episode: 'There are three words in the English language that end in -gry. Angry and hungry are two of them.' The hosts explain how this 'aggravating riddle' works -- and doesn't work. And what's a 'shivaree'?Do you know...

Hip-Hop Book of Rhymes - 13 May 2009

Wed, May 13 Listen

Welcome to another minicast from A Way with Words. Im Grant Barrett.[Music]Hip-hop is high art. Yeah. Thats right. And if you dont understand that, then youre missing out on some of the best poetry. Literary scholar Adam Bradley examines the style and poetry of hip-hop lyrics in his new book titled: Book of Rhymes, the Poetics of Hip-Hop. 'When a rapper's flow is fully realized,' he writes, 'it forges a distinctive rhythmic identity that is governed by both poetic and musical laws.'A hip-hop...

Souped Up and Sizzling - 11 May 2009

Mon, May 11 Listen

Like mushrooms in fallen leaves, new words keep popping up overnight. Consider the recent coinages frugalista, AFPAK, and fang-bang. Recently, Forbes magazine asked Grant to handicap the chances of these and other neologisms sticking around longer than old-fashioned newspapers. He and Martha discuss these words and whether they have staying power. You'd be forgiven for wondering if 'eavesdropping' derives from the idea of would-be spies slipping and falling from the eaves of a house. But it...

One Fell Swoop Minicast - 6 May 2009

Wed, May 6 Listen

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 take up most of its head -- and that those two eyes are separated only by a thin membrane? That's just one of the fun facts I learned from a new book called Falconer on the Edge: A Man, His Birds, and the Vanishing Landscape of the American West. The author, Rachel Dickinson, is married to a falconer....

Going for that Anti-Marketing Dollar - 4 May 2009

Mon, May 4 Listen

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 Grant discuss whether chirpy, happy ad copy can go too far. Also this week, why New Yorkers insist they 'stand on line' instead of in line. And who is 'William Trembletoes'? And what's a 'zerbert'? (The title of this post is taken from a routine by comedian Bill Hicks http://www.billhicks.com/.)Here's a...

A Conversation with Roy Blount Jr. - 29 April 2009

Wed, Apr 29 Listen

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 writers whose work is featured on the Kindle 2 should earn extra royalties because its text-to-speech feature essentially turns written works into audiobooks. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.htmlBlount also discusses his own recent book, Alphabet Juice, talks about 'sonicky' words and...

Cut to the Chase - 27 April 2009

Mon, Apr 27 Listen

[This episode first aired December 19, 2008.]There's nothing like an oddly phrased headline to brighten your day. How about 'Actor Sent to Jail for Not Finishing Sentence'? Or 'Queen Mary Having Bottom Scraped'? Same for signs that make you do a double take, like 'Senior Citizens! Buy One, Get One Free.' A San Diego caller shares a couple of her favorite oddly worded signs, and the hosts mention a few of their own.If someone's driving you bonkers, you'd be forgiven for grumbling, 'He's such...

Macaroni and Gravy? - 23 April 2009

Thu, Apr 23 Listen

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 home of her maternal grandparents, just north of New York City. 'This side of my family,' she writes, 'is unapologetically Italian. For me, a highlight of every visit was the night of arrival. My grandma would welcome us home with a big pot of gravy. After the day-long trip to get there, Stacey writes,...

Almost Up to Possible - 20 April 2009

Mon, Apr 20 Listen

[This episode originally aired December 13, 2008.]The second edition of the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus is chock-full of synonyms, of course, but what makes it special are the essays and usage notes by authors such as Simon Winchester, David Lehman, Zadie Smith, and David Foster Wallace. Grant talks about his experience working as an editor on this volume--and what David Foster Wallace taught him about language. We all know that the 2008 presidential election was historic. But was it...

What's a Hobson's Choice? - 15 April 2009

Wed, Apr 15 Listen

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, or else take nothing at all. Martha offers some choice words about the origin of this term. Recently a friend emailed to ask about a curious phrase she'd run across. A newspaper columnist argued that when it comes to fixing the economy, the Obama administration faces a Hobson's choice. In other...

Like a Duck on a June Bug - 13 Apr. 2009

Mon, Apr 13 Listen

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 aggravated if you were rear-ended by a 'lazuli bunting'?) Also this week, why do so many young folks 'pepper their speech with the word 'like,' and what, if anything, can be done about it? All that, plus Luddites, chicken bog, a ducks on June bug, and the possible origins of the phrase to get one's goat.Ever...

Dust Bunnies and Ghost Turds - 6 April 2009

Mon, Apr 6 Listen

[This episode was first aired November 22, 2008.]Feeling fankled? It's a Scots English word that means 'messed up' or 'confused.' In this week's episode, Grant and Martha also discuss a whole litter of synonyms for 'dust bunny,' a slew of different terms for the piece of playground equipment you slide on, and the proper way to refer to a baby platypus.When you were growing up, what did you call that piece of playground equipment that you climb up and then slide down? A former New Jersey...

What the Cluck? (Part 2) - 1 April 2009

Wed, Apr 1 Listen

What The Cluck, Part 2What 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 with both good and bad characteristics.'Last week I told you about a letter from Randy in San Diego. He's the guy who's raising three chickens in his backyard. That got him wondering about expressions in English involving chicken. For example, what about 'to egg someone on'?Randy says he gave his trio...

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