A Way with Words
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| Last updated Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:01
A Way with Words is a lively hour-long public radio show about language, on the air since 1998. Author Martha Barnette and dictionary editor Grant Barrett take calls about slang, grammar, old sayings, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, and speaking and writing well. Join them on the air at 1-877-929-9673, via email at words@waywordradio.org, or on the web at http://waywordradio.org/.
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English Down Under - 5 Jan. 2009
Download Now · | Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:01
[This episode originally aired October 11, 2008.]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 call the person clearing tables in a restaurant a busboy. Also, what's the plural of moose? Meese? Mooses?Great news for language fans: The Australian National Dictionary is now available online for free. It's full of fascinating words from Down Under. Contrary to what you might think, for example, kangaroosters are pouchless and feather-free, and a pumpkin...
Automobile Words of the Year - 29 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:02
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 still than high gas-prices are accidents caused by DWT, which is short for 'driving while texting.'Legislation and rules were considered in municipalities across the country to stop people from sending text messages on their phones while driving, though few bills seem to have passed.Thanks to high fuel prices, the word gas-sipper made a comeback in 2008. It's the opposite of a gas-guzzler. If a car sips gas,...
Coinkydinks and Big Boxes - 29 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:01
[This episode first aired May 10, 2008.]We all misspeak from time to time, but how about when we mangle words on purpose? Do you ever say 'fambly' instead of family, 'perazackly' for exactly, or 'coinkydink' for coincidence? When Grant recently wrote a newspaper column about saying things wrong on purpose, the response was enormous. Why is it that many people find such wordplay hard to resist? We consider this question and share their own favorite examples.A Pennsylvania minister is curious about a phrase her family uses: 'by way of Robin Hood's barn' or 'around Robin Hood's barn,' meaning a long,...
Cut to the Chase - 22 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:01
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 a pill!' But why a pill?Did Grandpa ever enthuse about Grandma's cooking with the words 'Good stuff, Maynard!' A Waukesha, Wisconsin caller remembers his...
The Lipstick Express - 15 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:03
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 national stage during Gov. Sarah Palin's run for the vice presidency. Grant discusses these expressions as our 'Word of the Year 2008' series continues.We're continuing our look at some of the words of the year of 2008. Last week we talked about the acronym PUMA.When Sarah Palin took the stage this year as a surprise pick for the Republican vice-presidential nomination, the election changed. Her hugely popular...
I Can Has Shimmery Eyez - 15 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:02
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 getting into trouble. In fact, I'm sure that during his 17 years, he used up far more than 9 lives. As a kitten, he once jumped head first into a bathtub filled with water. (All I'm going to say about that is 'ouch.') Staying indoors left him indignant. So I tried to train him to walk on a leash. That didn't go so well either. He broke free, skittered all the way up a huge tree -- and nearly hung himself. ...
Almost Up to Possible - 15 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:01
We recommend books that make great gifts for language lovers, talk about footwear called go-aheads, and look further into going commando. Also, was the 2008 election a historic event or an historic event?The second edition of the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus <http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Reference/?view=usa&ci=9780195342840> 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...
Download Now · | Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:14
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 Party Unity My Ass, which began as a Facebook group.Members of that group were Democrats who were disaffected after Hillary Clinton failed to secure a sufficient number of delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Some of these disaffected Democrats formed groups and committees in order to try to bring the matter to a head-to-head smackdown vote at the national convention.Other PUMAs, as they call...
Never Bolt Your Door with A Boiled Carrot - 8 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:02
[This episode first aired October 4, 2008.]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.' And this truism from Zanzibar: 'When two elephants tussle, it's the grass that suffers.' Martha and Grant discuss a new paremiography--a collection of proverbs--from around the world. A woman from Cape Cod is looking for a polite word that means the current wife of my ex-husband. She's thinking about 'cur-wife,' but somehow that doesn't quite work. Neither does...
Ground Game (minicast) - 1 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:02
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 certainly seems to have exploded in use, was 'ground game.'Ground game is a political term that refers to the door-to-door, one-on-one tactics used in the presidential campaigns. The victory of the Obama campaign, in particular, has been widely credited to its voter registration drives, its organized efforts to sway undecided or independent voters, its email lists, and its repeated reminders of when and where...
Moonbats and Wingnuts - 1 Dec. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:01
[This episode first aired September 20, 2008.]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 machine. In this week's episode, we examine this and other examples of political language.You call the repairman to fix a balky garage door, but when he gets there, it inexplicably works. You summon a plumber, only to find that when he arrives, your toilet's no longer leaking--and you're out $150. Or you discover that somewhere between your home and the doctor's...
Dust Bunnies and Ghost Turds - 23 Nov. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:01
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 resident recalls that when her family moved to Indiana, her playmates were startled when she called it a sliding board. They called...
Nuke the Fridge - 23 Nov. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:01
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's the granddaddy of all word of the year votes--the longest running, the most academic, and the most fun.And as we approach January 9th in San Francisco, we'll be talking here, in these minicasts, about some of the likeliest candidates.One very odd one that caught our eye was "nuke the fridge."Putting it politely, it means to exhaust the possibilities or merits of a...
A Year of Words - 17 Nov. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:01
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 'lipstick' more times than we'd ever dreamed, and saw also the rise of invented words like 'staycation' and 'recessionista.' What are your nominations for 2008's Word of the Year?'Do English-speaking foreigners understand you better if you speak English with a foreign accent?' A Californian says that on a recent visit to Armenia, he discovered the locals had an easier time if he spoke English with an Armenian...
Of Gossamer and Geese (minicast) - 10 Nov. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:02
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 air. Particularly at this time of year, some tiny spiders use an odd way to travel: They shoot out threads of their own silk, and then hitch a ride on the breeze. Entomologists call this technique 'ballooning.' Walt Whitman described it in a poem, writing of a 'noiseless patient spider' launching forth 'filament, filament, filament, out of itself. / Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them....'And...
Pwned Prose, Stat! - 10 Nov. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:01
[This episode first aired September 13, 2008.]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 great prose.An Illinois man recalls that as a kid, he used to mix fountain drinks of every flavor into a concoction he and his friends called a 'suicide.' He wonders if anyone else calls them that. Why a 'suicide'? Because it looks and tastes like poison?It started as a typo for 'own,' now it's entrenched in online slang. A Kentucky caller is curious about 'pwn.'...
Language Headlines (minicast) - 3 Nov. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:02
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 first fruit of that relationship has appeared in the form of the Chambers Slang Dictionary.The main sources of slang, Green says, have remained the same: sex and sexual organs, drinking, and terms of abuse. But ,there are always innovations. The Telegraph offers some of them: boilerhouse, modern British rhyming slang for spouse. Jawsing, US teen slang for lying. And, muzzy, an Irish word for a naughty child....
Hair of the Politics that Bit You - 3 Nov. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:01
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 form a recognizable image, like a cloud resembling a bunny, or the image of Elvis in a grilled cheese sandwich? With all this talk about this year's election ballot, did you ever stop to think about where the word 'ballot' comes from? Martha and Grant discuss terms related to politics, including 'ballot' and 'leg treasurer.''A fish stinks from the head down.' When an Indianapolis woman is quoted saying this,...
Riddled Through With Riddles - 27 Oct. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:01
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 Martha discuss this and other old-fashioned riddles. Also: how did the phrase 'going commando' come to be slang for 'going without underwear'? And which word is correct: 'orient' or 'orientate'?To go commando means to 'go without underwear.' But why 'commando'? An Indiana listener says the term came up in conversation with her husband after one of them had a near-wardrobe malfunction. She mercifully leaves the...
Darwinism and the Dictionary (minicast) - 20 Oct. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:00
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 n-i-t-i-d, which means 'glistening. ' The editors warn that if they don't see evidence of these words being used in everyday speech and writing, they'll drop them from the dictionary's next edition. They've even set deadline for the doomed words: February 2009. But they've also offered the public a chance to weigh in, and vote for which words deserve a reprieve.Sure, it's a great publicity stunt. But I...
A Moniker for Your Monitor - 20 Oct. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:01
This week on A Way with Words: Fess up: Do you have a pet name for your car? How about your computer? Martha and Grant discuss the urge to give nicknames to inanimate objects in our lives. Also, why do we speak of 'vetting' a political candidate? And what in the world is a 'zoo plane'?Fess up, now: Do you have a pet name for your car? Or maybe you spend so much quality time with your computer that you've given it a particularly affectionate moniker? What is it about inanimate objects--particularly technological gadgets--that inspires us to give them special nicknames? Martha raises these questions,...
Reading the OED from A to Z - 13 Oct. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:04
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 addition to eyestrain, headaches, and skeptics' puzzlement, was Shea's new book, Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 pages. Martha talks about what he learned along the way.http://ammonshea.com/oed.html Years ago, I covered a story for a sports magazine about Tori Murden, a woman trying row a 23-foot boat across the ocean. She set out from the Canary Islands with four months' provisions...and little...
English Down Under - 13 Oct. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:01
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 call the person clearing tables in a restaurant a busboy. Also, what's the plural of moose? Meese? Mooses?Great news for language fans: The Australian National Dictionary is now available online for free. It's full of fascinating words from Down Under. Contrary to what you might think, for example, kangaroosters are pouchless and feather-free, and a pumpkin squatter isn't a trendy thigh-reducing exercise.Ever...
Language Headlines (minicast) - 6 Oct. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:02
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? Grant has the answer, and reports about a new favorite blog described as 'LOLcats for smart people.'Ever since it started looking like Barack Obama was more than a long shot for his party's nomination, pollsters, and pundits have been talking about the 'Bradley effect.' It's when polls show a black political candidate way out in front. And yet, when the votes are cast, the black candidate barely wins or doesn't...
Never Bolt Your Door with A Boiled Carrot - 6 Oct. 2008
Download Now · | Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:01
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.' And this truism from Zanzibar: 'When two elephants tussle, it's the grass that suffers.' Martha and Grant discuss a new paremiography--a collection of proverbs--from around the world. A woman from Cape Cod is looking for a polite word that means the current wife of my ex-husband. She's thinking about 'cur-wife,' but somehow that doesn't quite work. Neither does the phrase 'that poor woman.' The hosts try...
