A Way with Words

When is a Bell Pepper a Mango? Minicast - 17 Aug. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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, so we help her sort it out.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Word Jocks, Lettered in Language - 17 Aug. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired Dec. 1, 2007.]

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 of 'eco-friendly' and unlock the etymology of 'skeleton key.'

Do you know what a 'rampike' is? Or a 'colobus'? Martha and Grant test each other's knowledge of ten-dollars words with the online quiz at FreeRice.com.

A reader of Anthony Bourdain's 'Kitchen Confidential' thinks the book is snarky--but what does 'snarky' really mean?

A husband and wife ask for wisdom about a long-running dispute: Is it 'last-stitch effort' or 'last-ditch effort'?

To great effect, your unaffected radio hosts explain the difference between 'affect' and 'effect.'

Greg Pliska's quiz about terms from football, curling, and other sports leaves Martha and Grant winded but wanting more.

How do you pronounce 'eco,' as in 'eco-friendly'? Is it 'EE-koe' or 'EK-koe'? A seller of environmentally friendly products learns whether she can tell her teenage son to go spread his pronunciation in the garden.

A Wisconsinite hopes to unlock the question, 'Why do we call it a skeleton key?'

A caller in Texas stirs up a spat over whether it's ever grammatically correct to say 'between you and I'--even though Shakespeare did it.

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant guesses what the terms 'tape bomb' and 'pixie money' mean. Improvised explosive devices made out of cassette tapes? We don't think so.

Finally, if you release a collection of music on compact disc, can you still call it a 'record' or an 'album'? Or is it just a CD? A musician from Indiana wants an answer.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Language Headlines - 11 August 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:31:00 GMT

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 Russian citizenship because a government clerk's typewriter was missing a single letter. Instead, a different vowel was used, making her Teterkina rather than Tetyorkina--and making who she said she was and who her papers said she was disagree. Public outcry over the matter has since caused her citizenship to be reinstated, but Tatyana is still pursuing it in the Russian courts.

In Slate magazine, Eugene Volokh takes a look at names that are so weird that they were brought before the courts. There's the nine-year-old New Zealand girl named Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii. Yes, that's the entire name. There's someone named They T-H-E-Y, there's Darren Lloyd Bean, spelled Darren Q-X Bean, and more Santa Clauses than a Santa Claus convention.

Caroline Winter fills in for William Safire in the New York Times Magazine, where she discusses why we capitalize the pronoun 'I.' She says, in short, that a lowercase I is hard to see on the page, but an uppercase I is a cinch to read. She suggests, just for a little self-humbling, that we capitalize you, Y-O-U, instead.

Also in the New York Times, Nicholson Baker gives a favorable review to Ammon Shea's book, Reading the OED, in which he spent an entire year reading the print version of the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Baker calls the book 'oddly inspiring' and says, 'The effect of this book on me was to make me like Ammon Shea and, briefly, to hate English.'

Finally, dictionary editor Erin McKean asks in the Boston Globe why people use a word and then sheepishly wonder if it is really a word. She writes, 'Whenever I see 'not a real word' used to stigmatize what is (usually) a perfectly cromulent word, I wonder why the writer felt the need to hang a big sign reading 'I am not confident about my writing' on it. What do they imagine the penalty is for using an 'unreal' word? A ticket from the Dictionary Police?' Cromulent, by the way, is a made-up word from The Simpsons. It means good or fine.

Okay, fine. That's all for this week's language headlines. You can find links to all of these stories on the discussion forum of A Way with Words, public radio's weekly call-in show about language. Find it at waywordradio.org.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Give It the Old College Slang - 11 August 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:08:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired May 17, 2008.]

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 about Unknown Superheroes!

What do we call it when new inventions or ideas change the name of something old? It used to be that the word 'guitar' was sufficient, but now we regularly distinguish between an 'acoustic guitar' and an 'electric guitar.' Same for television, a word that sufficed until we started saying 'color television' to distinguish it from the earlier black-and-white version. What's the word for such terms? We know you can't wait: it's 'retronym.'

A Cincinnati man says that at the non-profit where he works, he often hears the word 'voluntold.' It comes up when someone is volunteered by someone else to do some task, rather than volunteering themselves. Does this term for 'involuntary volunteering' have military origins?

'You're the apple of my eye' is an ancient term of endearment. Martha explains the connections between apples, eyes, and other precious things.

We share a listener's email about 'nicknames for the city of Vancouver, Canada.' How about ' Word-couver'?

Quiz Guy John Chaneski is a huge fan of comic books featuring superheroes like 'Superman and Spiderman.' Lo and behold, John claims he's discovered a whole treasure trove of 'Heretofore Unnamed Superheroes,' and invites us to guess their names. What do you call the doughty superhero who can take any food item that is past its expiration date, send it back through time, and make it edible again? Need a clue? His mild-mannered alter ego is in his first year at NYU.

An Oakland man is curious about a queasy-making phrase: 'a face that could gag a maggot off a gutwagon.' What's a 'gutwagon'? How's it used? Why is it used? Yech!

'Go fly a kite!' A caller from Washington, D.C. wonders whose kite is getting flown and why. Naturally, we have some ideas!

A San Diego caller says he's noticed that his high-school grandson and his buddies habitually 'refer to each other only by their last names,' but his granddaughter says she and her own friends never do. Is this just a teenage guy thing? The book that Grant recommends here is A Dictionary of Epithets and Terms of Address by Leslie Dunkling.

Martha shares the oodles of listeners' emails responding to a caller seeking 'a better word than retiree' to describe himself and his wife. How about 'pre-tiree'? Or 'jubilant'?

This week's Slang This! contestant is from Boston. She shares a slang phrase making the rounds among her friends at MIT: 'find your pants.' She then tries to guess the meaning of the slang term 'boilover' and the obscure word 'nycthemeron.'

Is it 'toward or towards'? 'Forward or forwards'? Do they differ in American English and British English? A Seattle listener wants to know.

A California caller is puzzled as to why 'the prefix un-' seems to function in two entirely different ways in the terms 'undone' and 'unmarried.'

If you were raised in North Dakota like our caller, you might wonder about a phrase you heard growing up: 'It's a horse a piece.' It means something like 'six of one, half a dozen of the other.' She is curious about the origin of the horse phrase and whether it's a regional expression.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAYâWORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Name That Accent Minicast - 3 August 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 they play "Name That Accent" all the time in the privacy of their own heads. Recently though, a listener phoned to challenge them to guess where she'd grown up based on her accent. See if you can figure it out!

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Coinkydinks and Big Boxes - 04 August 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 04:01:00 GMT

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, circuitous route.

How do you pronounce the architectural term 'beaux arts'? (Yep, Grant accidentally left of the final S when he spelled the term on the air.) Is it pronounced 'boh-ZART,' 'boh-ART,' 'boh-ZAR,' or 'boh-ZARTS'? We settle a dispute between a New Jersey woman and her nephew.

Martha shares the winners of a contest for Best Book Titles of the Year. Or would that be Oddest Book Titles of the Year?

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle in which we remove the first letter of a phrase to yield another with a different meaning. Try one: originally it was a boxing film starring Robert De Niro. Now it describes a head of cattle that's perhaps getting on in years.

A Wisconsin woman is trying to remember 'a term for paths in the grass created by pedestrians taking shortcuts.' Grant has an answer for her, straight from the jargon of urban planning professionals. The caller also wants 'recommendations for a good thesaurus.' The hosts' response may surprise you.

A caller is curious about a slang term she hears from her friends in the military. The word is 'Jody,' and it means someone who steals a soldier's girlfriend. Grant tells the colorful story behind this bit of military slang, as well as the songs it inspired. Here's a sample of Jody calls from the Vietnam war and from the Korean War.

Grant and Martha share more intentional mispronunciations, including 'tar-ZHAY' instead of Target.

This week's Slang This! contestant is not just any word nerd. She's Dorothea Gillim, creator of the animated PBS series WordGirl. Dorothea tries to guess the meaning of the odd terms 'pelican crossing' and 'zanjero.' The new season of WordGirl starts Monday, May 26th, and airs Mondays through Fridays.

What is 'janky'? A Chattanooga caller uses it describe something inferior or bad.

A Wisconsin man wonders about the use of the term 'big box store' to denote the stores of big retail chains like Wal-Mart. Is 'big box' a reference to the size and shape of the stores, or the fact that they sell huge appliances that come in, well, big boxes? Here's a silly song from JibJab about bix box stores.

A Pittsburgh man is bothered by people who would say someone wrote an 'outraged letter.' Can a letter really be angry and indignant or is it really the writer who's upset? Martha answers his question and seizes the opportunity to talk about the four-syllable word, 'hypallage.'

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org/. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Index v. Indice Minicast - 28 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 with his client?

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org/. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Put a Snap on the Grouch Bag - 28 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT

This episode first aired May 5, 2008.

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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 from another part of the country? Also, what does it mean to tell someone to 'put a snap on the grouch bag'?

A rugby referee from Indiana calls to ask if his sport is the origin of the word 'touchdown' as it is used in American football.

How do you pronounce the word 'patronize'? Is one pronunciation used if you say 'Don't patronize me!' and another one if you say 'We patronize local businesses'?

Why do we say political campaigns that are in a 'dead heat'? Why 'dead' and why 'heat'?

We play bingo on the air with Quiz Guy John Chaneski. His motives are not B9!

A woman who went to school in New Orleans reports she was startled the first time she heard residents of the Crescent City talk about 'making groceries' rather than buying them. Grant explains the French origins of that expression.

A listener who recently played in a Boggle tournament wants to know why we speak of 'seeding' such a competition.

The German word 'uber' has found a place in American English. A New Jersey man says he and his colleagues find it to be more versatile than a Swiss Army knife, as in, 'He is uber in the middle of that situation,' 'That was an uber meeting,' and 'You guys are the language ubers.'

An Indianapolis caller wants to know about curious expression she heard from her Aunt Harriet: 'put a snap on the grouch bag.' You would think it means 'Stop complaining!' but she says it refers to making sure your valuables are secure. What's the grudge?

Martha and Grant discuss more regional food terms. If you order 'Albany beef' in upstate New York, for example, don't be surprised if you're served fish.

This week's Slang This! contestant grapples with the slang terms 'squish' and 'optempo.'

What's the trouble with using the expression 'drink the Kool-Aid' to connote blind, unquestioning obedience to a politician? A caller is bothered by the grisly origin of the phrase--a reference to the 1978 mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana--and thinks it's being used inaccurately, in any case.

A caller is curious about the odd expression 'to who laid the rail,' which is used to mean, among other things, 'thoroughly, completely, excessively.'

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org/. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Small Talk, the Word Game Minicast - 21 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 list. The only catch? All of the clues have to be one syllable only. It's tougher than you think!

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Word Encounters of the First Kind - 21 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode first aired April 12, 2008.]

There's a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time--feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, 'What the heck does that mean?' and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just that effect on them: 'ucalegon' and 'cacoethes scribendi.'

A recent college graduate from Portland, Oregon, calls to ask about a term popular on her campus. She and her classmates use 'sketchy' to mean 'creepy, shady, possibly dangerous,' as in 'a sketchy part of town' or 'that sketchy guy over there.' Grant and Martha discuss this term and how it lends itself to such variations as 'Sketchyville' and 'Sketchy McSketcherson.'

In San Diego, a man says increasingly he hears the phrase 'down the pike' at work but suspects it was originally 'down the pipe.'

Martha discusses another word she happily tripped over in the dictionary: 'spanghew.'

Quiz Guy John Chaneski tries to stump the hosts with a puzzle called 'Cryptic Crosswords.' How about this one: 'Do-re-mi-fa follower + sneaker feature = comfort.'?

Why are cave explorers called 'spelunkers'? How do you pronounce the word? A naturalist at Mystery Cave in Minnesota wants to know and in return she tells us how to 'tell a stalactite from a stalagmite.'

A listener from Texas heard an NPR report from Asia in which an interpreter translated a speaker's words into English as 'a whole new ball game.' He wants to know if that's a literal translation from an Asian language, and if so, is it a reference to baseball or some other sport?

Grant shares a strange word from the fringes of English: 'mofussil.'

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant is asked to guess the meanings of the slang terms 'gauge' and 'head-up.'

A California caller is curious about the words 'Shia' and 'Shiite.' Is there difference between them or are they interchangeable?

A Michigan woman working a study-abroad program at a large university is bemused by the many applicants who write that they want to study overseas so they can be 'submerged in the culture.' She thinks there's a difference between 'immersed' and 'submerged' but wants to be sure.

Are more and more people talking about 'standing behind a podium?' A San Diegan says the traditional rule has been that one stands behind a lectern and stands on a podium. Has this traditional rule changed?

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Emoticons Minicast - 14 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 out your tongue like this :-P or using a colon, dash, and small letter d to say 'Yum!' :-d

But if you're going to toss emoticons into your prose, the caller asks, how in the world do you punctuate them?

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Nicknames Give Me the Heebie-Jeebies and the Vapors - 14 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired April 5, 2008.]

Everybody has a nickname, and there's usually a story to go with it. Martha and Grant reveal their own nicknames and the stories behind them. Also, is the expression 'heebie-jeebies' anti-Semitic? And is there a better word than 'retiree' for someone who moves on from a job late in life?

Speaking of nicknames, the word 'nickname' has an interesting etymology. It's an example of a word formed by what linguists call 'misdivision.' More here. If you have a nickname you'd like to share (and hey, let's keep it clean, folks!), tell us about it in our discussion forum!

On to our callers:

A cantor from a synagogue in Nyack, New York, says she's fond of the expression 'the heebie-jeebies' but recently began worrying that it might be anti-Semitic. Did the term 'heebie-jeebies' originate as a slur against Jews? By the way, the hosts mention a cartoon with the earliest known use of the term.

An adult caller from Phoenix is stung by the memory of losing an elementary school spelling bee when he misspelled the word 'dilemma.' He insists that his teachers taught him that the word contains a silent 'n.' After all these years, he's still trying to find out whether 'dilemna' is an acceptable spelling.

Recently we discussed the lack of a word in English for the act of trying to do in your offline life something you can only do on a computer, like expecting spellcheck to kick in if you're scribbling a grocery list, for example. The hosts share suggestions emailed by listeners. How about 'e-flex'? Or might 'deja undo' do?

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle about homophones, in this case, words that sound just like participles that have lost their final 'g,' like 'button' and 'buttin'.' The first clue: 'Picture Vladimir Putin trying to catch a departing bus.'

A woman and her boss want to resolve a dispute over the words 'reoccuring' and 'recurring.' Which is correct if you're talking about something that happens again and again? Grant explains that there is indeed a difference between the two words--and that one of them is almost always the right choice, particularly in the world of business.

When a proper Southern lady fans herself and exclaims, 'I do believe I have the vapors,' what vapors is she talking about, exactly? A caller from Austin, Texas wants to know the origin of this term. Just how did it come to apply to a whole range of things, from being flustered all the way to more serious maladies such as depression and hypochondria?

A former sociology professor shares a peeve about the language of political pundits: He's irked when they say a candidate wants to 'replicate' or 'duplicate' his win. The professor explains why he thinks they should eschew those words and instead opt for 'repeat.'

Cities have nicknames as well, including 'Sacratomato' and 'Lousyville.' Do you have a better city nickname? Let's hear it.

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant is from Esquimalt, British Columbia. She tries to guess the meaning of the slang terms 'white hat' and 'necklace light.' And no, the latter has nothing to do with a 'Frankenstein flash.'

A husband and wife are retiring after many years on the job. But they're keeping their options open for future employment, and don't want to be called 'retirees.' The word 'retirees' isn't enough to connote the more ' dynamic and open-ended' way of living they're anticipating, nor does it take into account the possibility that they might continue to do some kind of paying work. How about 'rehirees'? Or...?

What's the nickname for your hometown newspaper? Do share by emailing us.

A Kentucky listener and her husband wonder about the proper meaning of the word 'everloving.' Sometimes they hear it used to express frustration, as in, 'Why won't he pass the everloving basketball?', but other times they hear it used more positively, as in, 'I just want to get in my everloving bed and sleep!' Grant answers her everloving question.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Dits and Dat Minicast - 7 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 our own research about these curious terms.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Barbecue Stoppers and Marmalade Droppers - 7 July 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired March 15, 2008.]

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 'horseracism'? Is there an etymological connection between 'caucus' and 'Caucasian'?

A caller wants to settle a friendly argument: Is something not worth debating called a 'moot point' or a 'mute point'?

A listener calls from in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to say that in her native Spanish, she can use several different words for 'love' to denote a whole range of feelings, depending on how close she is to the other person. She's frustrated that English seems to lack that same spectrum of words meaning various degrees of love.

What's a 'barbecue stopper,' and how does it differ from a 'marmalade dropper'?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water--Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a quiz about punny taglines from famous movies. For example, which Johnny Depp film's tagline is 'His story will touch you, even though he can't'?

Back to political talk: Is there an etymological connection between the words 'caucus' and 'Caucasian'? A caller wants to know. Grant explains what politicians and watchdog groups mean by the term 'glass pockets.'

A California man complains that the expression 'grow your business' grates on his nerves.

A San Diego woman who's homeschooling her children wonders if there's a formula that explains why nouns like 'teacher' and 'writer' end in '-er,' while others, like 'professor' and 'conductor,' end in '-or.' She suspects it has to do with whether the words come from Latin roots or Anglo-Saxon roots.

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant shares his favorite slang term, 'teho,' (To Each His Own), then tries to puzzle out the meaning of the terms 'karzy' and 'low-bush moose.'

An upstate New York listener of Italian descent is curious about two favorite expressions: 'fuggeddabouddit' and 'bada-bing, bada-boom.'

A Texan says his grandmother used to refer to the thigh of a chicken as the 'second joint.' Martha and Grant discuss whether it's a regional term. By the way, if you want to know the French term Martha mentions that roughly translates as 'only a silly person won't eat it,' (literally, 'the idiot leaves it') it's 'le sot-l'y-laisse.'

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Do Singers Have Accents? Minicast - 30 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 that seems to change some people's accents? A caller from Indianapolis wants to know.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Paper to Pixels, Pages to Screens - 30 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode first aired March 8, 2008.]

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 psychological implications of books that run on batteries.

A caller remembers an odd phrase from her childhood. If she asked too many questions, her mother would brush them off with the phrase 'layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks.' Say what?

A Milwaukee listener is curious about an expression he uses to describe underlings who can't seem to do something right: 'You give 'em books, and all they do is eat the covers!'

Martha and Grant discuss the rise of the Great Japanese cell-phone novel.

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents the hosts with a wacky puzzle based on two-word phrases containing the sounds 'oo oo,' 'ee ee,' and 'aa aa.' As you might expect, animal hilarity ensues.

A retired theater professor wants to know why she keeps hearing the word 'dramaturge' used in surprising new ways. Is 'dramaturged' now a legitimate verb? Can the noun also refer to someone who adapts a play for particular production--and not just to the person who originally wrote it?

A caller from Down Under phones to say he's annoyed when honorees declare they're 'humbled' by this or that award. He thinks it's not only illogical, but smacks of insincerity.

A fair-haired listener has been puzzled by the origin of a word she's heard all her life: 'Tow-headed.' And no, it has nothing to do with the digits on one's feet.

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant, John Schwaller, president of the State University of New York at Potsdam, ponders the possible meanings of the terms 'donk' and 'Baltimore wrench.' He offers his own favorite slang term, 'snow snake.'

A Washington, D.C. caller wonders whether there's a difference between the words 'grey' and 'gray.' Do they designate exactly the same thing? Why are they spelled differently.

A California man says his mother used to respond to his inquiries about what they were going to do by telling him playfully, 'We're going to Buxtehude!' Decades later, he wonders whether there really is a place called Buxtehude, or where in the world she got that phrase.

Grant shares his thoughts about the future of electronic books, and whether dog-eared pages with scribbles in the margins will one day go the way of the papyrus roll.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

My Brilliant Careen Minicast- 23 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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, and throw in the origin of the word carom for good measure.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Celebrate National Grammar Day - 23 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired March 3, 2008.]

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 in and underline your misspellings with squiggly red lines? A caller wants a term for the act of trying to do offline what can only be done online.

Let's see...there's National Cheese Day on January 20 and of course National Iguana Awareness Day on September 8. So it's only fitting that good grammar should get a day of its own, too. National Grammar Day has been proclaimed for March 4 by the the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, an organization for those 'who crave good, clean English--sentences cast well and punctuated correctly.' The group's site, sums it up this way: 'It's about clarity.'

Martha and Grant are down with that. So here's to National Grammar Day and also to the wise cautionary note sounded by <i>Baltimore Sun</i> copy editor John McIntyre about the danger of getting too curmudegonly about it all.

A woman calls on behalf of her 12-year-old son, who wants to know the origin of the term 'booby trap.' No, the hosts explain, the answer has nothing to do with brassieres.

A Wisconsin resident gets misty-eyed remembering the steaming plates of Beef Manhattan and Turkey Manhattan from his elementary-school days in central Indiana. But why the 'Manhattan' in their names? How far back to do you remember eating it? Let us know.

An equestrian wonders about the origin of the expression 'lock, stock, and barrel.'

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a word puzzle about snowclones, linguists' joking term for twists on formulaic expressions.

Have you ever done something you regretted, and instinctively reached for the 'undo' function, despite being nowhere near a computer? Maybe a page in your book accidentally turns and you reach for the browser's back button? A Hoosier seeks a term for the act of trying to do offline what can only be done online. Post your suggestions in the forum.

The election's still months away, but a caller in Okinawa, Japan wonders how the husband of a female U.S. president should be addressed if the husband himself is a former president. The hosts rule out 'First Laddie.'

A caller wants to know the origin of the word 'piker,' as in a 'parsimonious person.'

A few episodes ago, Martha and Grant asked listeners for variations on the road-trip game of padiddle and boy, did they oblige. For starters, how about all these names for the tail-light version of padiddle? Padunkle, padonkle, perdunkle, pasquaddle, paduchi, Popeye, and dinklepink. Personally, we can't wait for the next time we're out on the road at night.

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to guess the meaning of the slang terms 'goat's mouth' and 'happy sack.'

A caller wants to know which is correct: 'pleaded' or 'pled'?

An Indianapolis listener who lives on same street where James Whitcomb Riley made his home wonders if the poet's name has anything to do with the expression associated with living in high style, 'the life of Riley.' Click on the 'lyrics' button on this transcription from a piano roll to see the full words to the song.

A California caller gets a clarification about when to use 'a' and 'an' if the next word starts with a vowel sound.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

How to Address an Envelope to a Married Couple Minicast - 16 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 question: she spends a lot of time sending thank-you letters for nonprofit fundraising. So she's wondering, what's the best way to address them so as not to offend potential donors? Her question provokes a lively exchange about grammar, etiquette, and feminism.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAYâWORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Cruciverbalists Play Across and Down - 16 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode first aired February 23, 2008.]

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 in New York City.

http://www.crosswordtournament.com/

An Atlanta native wants to know why she and her fellow Southerners grew up using the word 'plum,' as in 'plum tuckered out.' Martha explains the connection between that kind of 'plum' and 'plumbers.'

Which is the correct form: 'driver license,' 'drivers' license,' or 'driver's license'?

An Austin teenager wants to know why we refer to a girl who behaves boyishly as a 'tomboy.'

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to guess the meaning of the terms 'beano' (no, not the anti-gas treatment) and 'macing' (no, not the stinging defensive spray).

A teacher discusses whether the correct form is 'feel bad' or 'feel badly.' By the way, the Latin proverb Martha mentions here is, 'Qui docet, discet.'

Why do we use a capital letter 'I' for the first person singular pronoun, but don't capitalize any other pronouns?

A caller from Maine says she was taught to say 'bunny, bunny' at the first of each month for good luck. Then she met someone who says 'rabbit, rabbit' for the same reason. What's the superstition behind these lagomorphic locutions?

In honor of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle about--what else?--crossed words.

A caller wants to know why those deep-fried balls of cornmeal and spices are called 'hush puppies.'

An ESL teacher puzzles over how to explain to his students the proper pronunciation of the word 'route.' He asks whether the pronunciation 'root' has been 'routed' by 'rowt.'

A caller is curious about an expression her father liked to use 'off in the giggleweeds.' What's a giggleweed? And no, he didn't mean marijuana.

More next week. Notice how we didn't say, 'Well, weed better be going'?

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Careful with That Teakettle Minicast! - 9 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 04:02:00 GMT

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 never been able to figure out the literal meaning. Grant solves the mystery for him. Hint: It has to do with teakettles.

By the way, you'll find more details about this colorful expression in Michael Wex's book 'Born to Kvetch' here:

http://www.the-yiddish-world-of-michael-wex.com/born-to-kvetch-ch-2.html

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Expresso Dating and Dying Tongues - 9 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired February 16, 2008.]

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 question and efforts to record some endangered languages before they die out completely.

A caller named Holly confesses that there's a word that practically makes her break out in hives every time she hears it. Grant assures her she's not alone in her aversion to the word--Holly, cover your eyes--'moist.' Grant and Martha discuss the psychological aversion some people have to certain common terms.

Is there a word that makes you shudder in disgust? Unload in our discussion forum.

An Indianapolis woman calls to say she a great first date with a doctor, but was horrified to hear him suggest they meet at an 'expresso' shop. She asks for dating advice: Should she correct the guy, keep quiet about this mispronunciation, or just hope he never orders espresso again? Would you go out on a second date with someone who orders a cup of 'EX-presso'?

A California man says that he thinks he is increasingly hearing locutions like '50 is the new 30' and 'pink is the new black' and 'blogs are the new resume.' He's curious about the origin of this 'X is the new Y' formula.

You may recall earnestly singing 'Kumbaya' around a campfire. But a caller observes that the title of this folk song has taken on a new, more negative meaning. Grant and Martha discuss the new connotations of 'Kumbaya,' especially as used in politically conservative circles.

Puzzle Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle about William Snakespeare--you know, the great playwright whose works are just one letter different from those of his better-known fellow writer, William Shakespeare. It was Snakespeare, for example, who wrote that gripping prison drama, 'Romeo and Joliet.'

Grant talks about a Jack Hitt article on dying languages in the New York Times, which points out that sometimes 'the last living speaker' of a language...isn't.

A caller named Brian wonders whether a co-worker was right to correct him for saying that something minor was 'of tertiary concern.' Does 'tertiary' literally mean 'third,' or can it be used to mean more generally 'peripheral' or 'not so important'?

A Milwaukee man is mystified about the use of the word 'nee' in his grandmother's obituary.

A 'Slang This!' contestant guesses at the meaning of the slang terms 'faux po' and 'pole tax.'

A caller is curious about the colloquial expression 'it has a catch in its getalong.' She used it to describe the family's faulty car. Her husband complained the phrase was too imprecise. Grant and Martha discuss this and similar expressions, like 'hitch in its getalong' and 'hitch in its giddyup.'

A California caller is puzzling over the expression 'have your cake and eat it, too.' Shouldn't it be 'eat your cake and have it, too'?

Grant tells the story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who revived the use of Hebrew outside of religious contexts. In 1850, no one spoke Hebrew as an everyday language; now it's spoken by more than 5 million.

That's all until next week! May your getalong keep getting along.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

The Word Candidate Minicast - 2 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 04:03:00 GMT

[This is the first of our 2008 summer minicasts, offered only online.]

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. She also explains the etymology of the term for what drives so many candidates: 'ambition.'

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

An Estival Festival of Summer Minicasts - 2 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 04:02:00 GMT

This week we announce our 2008 summer minicasts, offered only online. It's what we're calling an 'estival festival.'

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Squeejawed Red-heads and Grockles - 2 June 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired February 9th and 10th, 2008]

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 time getting around in the eighth century, when English poetry looked like: 'Hwaet we gardena in geardagum...'

Speaking of the more recent past: When you played hide-and-seek as a child, did you yell 'Ollie, Ollie Oxen Free'? Or 'Ally Ally in Free'? Or maybe 'Ally Ally Ump Free'? 'Ole Ole Olsen Free'? Or something else? A caller in Montevideo, Uruguay, is curious about the origin of such nonsensical phrases.

It's the Moby Dick of etymology: 'Where do we get the phrase the whole nine yards?' A pediatrician in North Carolina wonders if it derives from a World War II phrase involving 'nine yards' of ammunition. Grant and Martha discuss the many theories about this expression.

Martha and Grant discuss 'squeejawed' and other strange terms that mean 'crooked,' or 'askew,' including 'slanchwise,' 'whompy-jawed,' 'lopper-jawed,' 'antigogglin,' 'sigogglin,' and 'catawampus.'

Puzzle Guy Greg Pliska presents a letter game called 'Dandy Dyads.'

A woman wonders about a phrase from her past: 'I'm going to beat you like a red-headed stepchild.' Martha and Grant discuss 'gingerism,' or prejudice against redheads.

A New York babysitter says the English language needs a word to replace the clunky phrase, 'the kids I babysit.' The hosts try to help her find one. 'Charges'? 'Child associates'? 'Padawans'?

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant, a professor of medieval history at the University of Santa Cruz, tries to guess the meaning of the slang terms 'quizzam' and 'snirt.'

A native speaker of Spanish has a hard time with prepositions in English. (Why do we say that someone's 'on my mind' but 'in my heart'?

A listener in York, England wonders about the word 'grockles,' a derogatory term for tourists.

On an earlier episode we talked about regional differences involving the words 'dinner' and 'supper,' prompting a whole smorgasbord of responses. Grant reads a few of them on the air.

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Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.

Road Trip! - 26 May 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT

[This episode originally aired January 26 and 27, 2008.]

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, Martha and Grant also discuss the rules of the road games 'padiddle' and 'slug bug.'

Maybe you know it as 'perdiddle,' but a Wisconsinite shares memories of playing 'padiddle.' You need at least two people in a car, an oncoming vehicle with a headlight out, and, depending on which version of the game you play, you need to be prepared for kissing, punching, ceiling-thwacking, beer-buying, or stripping. Grant describes the Volkswagen-inspired of another road-trip game, 'slug bug.'

A listener from Falmouth, Maine, disagrees with his Canadian friends about how to pronounce the word 'aunt.' He says it shouldn't sound like the name of the insect. But is that the way most people pronounce this word for your mother's sister?

A Hoosier says her friends tease her about the way she says 'doofitty' when she can't think of the right word for something. Grant and Martha discuss the long list of linguistic placeholders, including 'whatchamacallit,' 'doodad,' 'deely-bobber,' 'doowanger,' 'doojigger,' 'doohickey,' 'thingamabob,' 'thingummy,' 'thingum,' and 'thingy.'

A California man remembers going to the neighborhood bakery back home in Illinois and ordering 'bismarcks.' But these days he rarely hears this term for 'jelly doughnut,' and wonders about its origin.

This week's Slang This! contestant guesses at the meaning of the slang expressions 'wigs on the green' and 'fake and bake.'

Grant and Martha read emails from listeners with suggested explanations as to how the term 'biffy' came to mean 'portable toilet.'

They also discuss listener's own stories about saying 'bread and butter' when companions step around an obstacle that divides them. Popeye does that little 'bread and butter' step about 5:47 into this clip that Martha was talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0av3fmr0sDc

We also promised words for the experience of noticing a word for the first time and then feeling like you're seeing it everywhere. Here are a few: diegogarcity, the recency Illusion, and the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.

A retired professor wants to know if Latin grammar holds any clues about whether a female professor is properly addressed as 'professor emeritus' or 'professor emerita.'

Finally, a woman who grew up playing 'Duck, Duck, Goose' is surprised to hear that her niece and nephew play 'Duck, Duck, Gray Duck' at their preschool in Minnesota. The hosts take a gander at regional variations of this children's game.

And with that, we're ducking out of here until next week.