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.
Co-host Martha Barnette has a background in Latin and ancient Greek. She’s a stickler for grammatical rules, and makes a point of explaining them with little anecdotes and tricks that make those rules clear and easy to remember. Raised in the South, she has a warm and accessible on-air presence. Despite that down-home charm, when she and her co-host get into a grammatical tussle, those white gloves come off.
She is the author of three books on word origins, including Ladyfingers & Nun’s Tummies: A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names (1997), which was chosen by the Los Angeles Times for its “100 Best Books of the Year” list. Her other etymological books are A Garden of Words (1992) and Dog Days and Dandelions (2003).
Martha holds a degree in English from Vassar College, did graduate work in classical languages at the University of Kentucky, and studied Spanish in Costa Rica at the ILISA School. She’s worked as a reporter for the Washington Post, an editorial writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal, and as a medical reporter for the Louisville Times. Her first book, The Bill Schroeder Story (1987), chronicled the ordeal of the world’s longest-living artificial heart patient. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications, from the New York Times to Bark.
Martha has co-hosted A Way with Words since 2004.
A Kentucky native, she now lives in San Diego, where she is a sought-after public speaker. Visit her blog, Martha Barnette’s Orts, and her web site is MarthaBarnette.com.
Co-host Grant Barrett is an American lexicographer and dictionary editor specializing in slang and new words. Whether he’s scouring obscure corners of the Internet, mining electronic databases, or digging through the library stacks, Grant ferrets out new and surprising terms that make our language colorful. He’s the compiler and editor of the Official Dictionary of Unofficial English (2006, McGraw-Hill) and of the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang (2004, Oxford University Press), and is well-known for his award-winning online Double-Tongued Dictionary, which tracks slang, jargon, and neologisms from the fringes of English.
Besides being a widely quoted language authority, Grant has written on language for such newspapers as the Washington Post and the New York Times, has contributed to the British book series The Language Report, and is a public speaker about dictionaries and slang. He also writes a fortnightly column about English-language slang for the 1.2-million-circulation Malaysia Star and has worked as a business and music journalist.
He serves as vice president of the American Dialect Society, an academic organization devoted since 1889 to the study of English in North America. He also contributes to the “Among the New Words” column of the society’s journal American Speech, is a member of the journal’s editorial board, and helps organize the society’s annual “word of the year” vote. He is a member of the Dictionary Society of North America and the Linguistic Society of America. Grant holds a degree in French from Columbia University and has studied at the Université Paris Diderot.
Grant was an editor of the four-volume Historical Dictionary of American Slang (2003-2006, Oxford University Press) and has contributed as a lexicographer to the Cambridge Dictionary of American English (second edition, 2008), the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary (2008), the Collins British English Advanced Dictionary (2008), Collins Cobuild English/Japanese Dictionary of Advanced English (2008), the Collins Spanish Intermediate Dictionary (2008), the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus (first edition, 2004), the New Oxford American Dictionary (2001, first edition, and 2005, second edition), the Concise Oxford American Thesaurus (2006), and the Concise Oxford American Dictionary (2006).
Grant first worked in radio in 1988 and has co-hosted A Way with Words since January 2007.
Though born and raised in Missouri, Grant lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, a linguist, and their infant son. Visit Grant’s blog, The Lexicographer’s Rules.
This web site’s domain name is inspired by our 24/7 toll-free number, (877) 929-9673, which on a telephone keypad spells 877 WAY WORD, and is, in turn, a shortened form of our show’s name. Plus, of course, we get the pun on “wayward”—there’s no doubt that we often wander far afield of our subject matter. “Away with words” is not a pun we endorse, naturally.
October 24, 2008: The New York Times asks Grant his opinion of the term “recessionista.” A Label for a Pleather Economy.
October 24, 2008: Grant contributes to Slate’s explanation of what it means to be “in the tank” for someone. Explainer Goes in the Tank.
October 7, 2008: Is Sarah Palin a MILF? Grant is quoted talking about the term in the online magazine The Root: The MILFy Way.
September 18, 2008: The Sydney Morning Herald features a look at the false doom-saying perspectives on what technology is doing to our language and quotes Grant. Broken English: Katie Cincotta looks at how texting is changing our language.
September 13, 2008: Grant talks to the Guardian about “lipstick on a pig.” Questions, questions: Who coined the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’?.
September 10, 2008: Fox TV News asks Grant about the history of “lipstick on a pig” on Live Desk (video not yet available). He also spoke about it to Monica Guzman of “The Big Blog” of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Lipstick on a pig and why we play politics with words. Grant also spoke about it on the air with KOMO-AM in Seattle.
September 9, 2008: In an article about the self-appointed grammar police, Grant offers general guidelines for playing it cool but safe. Drag ’net: Self-appointed grammar police are catching and citing online abusers of the English language, Baltimore Sun.
August 23, 2008: Grant talks about the slang term “douchebag” in the Toronto Star. We know a d-bag when we see one. He’s spoken on the subect before to Details magazine: You’re a douchebag.
July 23, 2008: Martha and Grant are featured on PRX Conversations ‘08 talking about political slang. It can also be found on the Campaign Audio from PRX blog.
July 2, 2008: More about the catchphrase “throw someone under the bus” from Grant. Is it time to throw ‘under the bus’ under the bus?, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
June 24, 2008: Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn consults Grant on the subject of the political flip-flop. Obama vow on funds was the real error.
June 22, 2008: What do you call your romantic partner if you’re an older person? Boyfriend or girlfriend? Lover or paramour? S.O.? Grant gives his opinion in USA Today. Adults stumble over what to call their romantic partners.
June 19, 2008: Grant was a quest on These Days, a morning news and call-in show hosted by Tom Fudge on KPBS-FM in San Dego. Listen to them talk about political slang and language (31MB MP3, 37 min.).
June 17, 2008: Bobbie Johnson of the Guardian’s technology blog, points to Grant’s article about purposely mispronouncing words.
June 10, 2008: Roby Kyff cites Grant as a source about the political terms “red state” and “blue state.” How Political Stripes Got Added To Map, Hartford Courant.
April 22, 2008: In his language commentary on NPR’s Fresh Air, linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about the phrase “under the bus” and cites Grant and his research. Text: Under the Bus; audio: Primaries Toss Some “Under the Bus”.
April 17, 2008: Grant comments on the likelyhood that the word “scuppie” will survive. The new ’scuppies’ wear a mantle of green, USA Today.
April 9, 2008: The excuse “we didn’t anticipate” draws a comment from Grant. Un-an-tici-pat-ed: adj. Lacking Foresight in Hindsight, Washington Post.
April 8, 2008: Grant is quoted about the phrase “it is what it is.” The cliché is what it is, Chicago Tribune.
April 6, 2008: Grant’s dictionary site is mentioned by Jan Freeman in connection with the term “mullet strategy.” The mullet strategy, Boston Globe.
April 5, 2008: Martha’s book A Garden of Words is considered by a garden writer. Speaker has bumper crop of words, Indianapolis Star.
April 4, 2008: Nicki Arnold says of the show: “I usually listen to my podcasts on my bike, so when you see me laughing like a goon, you’ll know why.” Nicki’s Nifty News: Queen of the Grammar Rodeo, Daily Nexus, University of California, Santa Barbara.
April 1, 2008: Martha will be the special guest at the Indy Reads annual Alphabet Affair in Indianapolis on April 12th. Buzzin’ around town… Indianapolis Star.
March 23, 2008: Grant helps William Safire get to the bottom of the term “firehouse primary.” Mulligan Primary, New York Times Magazine.
March 17, 2008: Grant is quoted in reference to “maternal profiling.” Mom fights for law against ‘maternal profiling,’ Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call.
March 5, 2008: Grant is quoted in an article about online dictionaries. Whatchu talkin’ bout: Poly grad’s online urban dictionary still going strong, Columbia News Service, SanLuisObispo.com.
March 2, 2008: Grant co-emcees the finals at the 31st Annual American Crossword Tournament and he and Martha hand out awards. Crossword Tournament: The Final Countdown, New York Press. Photos with Will Shortz and Merle Reagle.
March 1, 2008: Martha and Grant and A Way with Words are profiled in an in-flight magazine. What’s That You Say? American Way magazine, PDF, 764K.
February 12, 2008: Martha is quoted by language columnist Nathan Bierma about the bloody origin of the word “shambles.” Word’s history now lies in shambles, Chicago Tribune.
February 2, 2008: Grant is quoted extensively in an article about online dictionaries. Word nerds capture fleeting online English, New Scientist.
January 28, 2008: Grant is quoted about the Oxford comma. Michael Hogan: Vampire Weekend’s “Oxford Comma,” Explained, VF Daily, a Vanity Fair blog.
December 21, 2007: Grant talks on another radio show about words of the year. Words of 2007, From ‘Surge’ to ‘Left of Boom’ to ‘E-Mail Bankruptcy,’ Wordmaster, Voice of America. Includes audio.
December 20, 2007: Grant talks about words of the year on the air. 2007 Words of the Year, State of Affairs, WFPL, Louisville, Kentucky. Includes audio.
December 4, 2007: Martha talks about grammatical questions of particular interest to physicians in the American Academy of Neurology’s podcast version of its journal, Neurology.
November 15, 2007: Grant appears in online video to talk about texting. Roundtable discussion on texting slang, AT&T Tech Channel.
July 6, 2007: Martha and Grant make a special transatlantic appearance on BBC Radio Five’s Up All Night. MP3, 57MB, 1:02:39.
