S1: Hey , San Diego , I'm Andrew Bracken in for Jade Hindman , one of the hosts of the popular public radio show away With words is out with a new book all about her love for language. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Public radio fans know a thing or two about language , especially those of us who listen to the weekly talk show. Away With words co-hosts Martha Barnett and Grant Barrett take calls about slang , dialects , and family expressions celebrating the nuance of words and speech. The show airs on KPBS Sundays at 10 a.m.. Well , now Martha Barnett is out with a new book. All about her love for linguistics. It's called friends with Words Adventures in Language Land. This Thursday , she'll sign copies at Warwick's bookstore in La Jolla , and later this month , she'll be a featured author at the inaugural San Diego Book Festival. That's on August 23rd. Details on our website at KPBS. Midday edition. Host Jade Heineman sat down with Martha earlier this week. Here's that conversation.
S2: Let's start with your show away with words. Longtime fans will remember that it all got started right here at KPBS.
S3: In fact , it started at KPBS in 1998. The original co-host , whom some people will remember , is where Richard Lederer and Charles Harrington Elster , they were the founding hosts of the show. And then a few years later , Charlie left and I joined the show , having been writing books on word origins at my home in Kentucky and then a couple of years later , Grant Barrett replaced Richard when Richard retired. So. We've been going strong ever since. It's hard to believe it's been more than 20 years for me. Wow.
S2: Wow. Well , I mean , you've you've co-hosted the show , like you say , for 20 years now.
S3: Because the truth is , no , we never run out of things to talk about. We have. I mean , you know , public radio listeners are intellectually curious in there. They're vivacious , and they always want to know the origins and history of different things , including words. And so we have listeners all over the world now who call us to ask about things like slang and word origins and regional dialects and all those kinds of things , and know we we're expecting to do this for quite a while yet.
S2: That's so cool. So I have to ask. You know , for a show all about words. It's pretty funny that you and your co-host , Grant Barrett actually have such similar names.
S3: We are both here based in San Diego. Both of us live in City Heights , but that's about as far as it goes. Some people call him Graham when they write in , or some people call me Marcia. But , you know , all the questions go to the same place.
S2: It's okay. I'm Jayda to so many people instead of. Oh.
S3: Oh.
S2: Is that right ? Oh , yeah. Oh , yeah.
S3: Well , you know , it's interesting that you mentioned this because one of the things that I talk about in the book is really interesting call that we got once from a guy named Todd , and he said , so many people call me Scott , like , even if I'm at a party with a name tag on my chest. People will say , nice to meet you , Scott. I've had doctors walk into the room with my chart and say , nice to meet you , Scott. And he was saying , what's going on ? And that was just that was a really fascinating question. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. You know , that's , uh , it's so it's such a strange thing how our how we associate names , um , like that and switch them around in our head. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. We got a lot of calls from Scott's and Todd's who said , yes , this happens to me.
S2: So much so that you're actually married to one of them now. So tell me the story of how you met your your wife , please.
S3: Well , um. Yeah , I was lonely for a while. Um , and I had tried all these dating apps , and nothing really came of that. And so we had a caller to the show talk about the fact that he was looking for a word that was better than x , x. He really had a good relationship with his former partner. And he said , isn't there a word that's less harsh ? And I thought , well , you know , maybe I could put something out there on the airwaves , kind of subtly. So I started talking about my ex , and I made sure to use the pronouns she and her , hoping that out there somebody , the right person was listening , and sure enough , she was. And she showed up a few years later at Thorn Street Brewery here in San Diego , where we were doing a trivia night , and she came up to me and said , um , yeah , I came here to meet you. And I said , well , you know , everybody came here to meet me , but but she said , she said , I was actually on the show six years ago asking about the words nice and kind , because I think of myself as a kind person , but not necessarily nice. And at the time I had thought this was a really boring conversation , I have to say , because I wanted to get into the etymology of these words and and she and Grant , my co-host , were more interested in talking about other aspects of those words , and so I didn't think it was that interesting a conversation. But when I ran into this caller six years later at Thorn Street Brewery , I decided I was going to have to reassess. She put a piece of paper in my hand at the end of the night , and I thought , please don't be a check for a nonprofit that produces the show. Please don't forget check for our nonprofit. It was the one time that I didn't want a listener to put a check in my hand. And sure enough , I got out to my car and opened my hand at long last. And there was her name and phone number. And so two days later , we went out. Two years later , we got married in Solana Beach. Nice.
S2: Nice. Oh my gosh. Well , I know this this story is included in your book which I want to talk about. So it's called friends with Words Adventures in Language Land.
S3: And I just , I felt like I had more to say that that I didn't really have room for on the air. Because although I do talk a lot about words and favorite words and how I got into this and , and , uh , things that word nerds would love. I also decided to put some memoir in there because some of my favorite books about language also have some memoir in them. So I talk about a teacher who who was life changing for me. I talk about my parents , who had a very interesting past. Um , and I talk about meeting my wife through the show.
S2: That's great. Well , speaking of , you know , the memoir aspect of this , you write all about the challenge of making a career out of what you love. Tell me about that experience.
S3: Well , that was a challenge. Um , we were , um , we were on KPBS and in the recession of 2007 , and there just wasn't enough money to continue producing the show. And so we formed a little nonprofit , our intrepid producer , Stephanie Levine , and Grant and I and some supportive listeners , and we started producing the show ourselves. But we didn't even take a salary for the first three years. We were we were all doing other things to try to support that passion. So , you know , I mean , we were passionate , we were probably pigheaded and certainly naive , but the whole thing has been a labor of love. The feedback we get from listeners keeps us going. Wow.
S2: Wow.
S3: And then later he married , uh , my mom. But she , like my dad , was born in a log cabin in Appalachia in North Carolina. And she had a very , very strong , uh , western North Carolina accent that it hadn't really occurred to me until I was writing the book that that was really during my formative years. That was when I was learning language , you know , and I would hear my aunt Meso talk about , Lord , you ain't got brain one. If there was somebody that she didn't , didn't respect or , you know , I ain't lost nothing over there. If , uh , and I say this , I mean , some people might think that I'm doing a caricature of her , but I say this with great love , because when I hear an accent like that , I. I just luxuriate in it. It just. It feels like home. You know , when you when you grow up in a particular community , the language that you speak at home , um , it's almost like a kind of of , of music. And when you hear it again , it just feels so familiar and and for me , so warming. Wow.
S2: Wow. You know , it's so funny that you say that because , uh , my grandparents would always tell people , you don't you ain't got a pet connaissance. And for so much time I spent wondering what measurement what unit is a pecan ? Exactly. But , you know , this is the this is their this is Arkansas talking.
S3: Oh , oh. Yeah , well , I would think a pack like a bushel and a peck , but a peck gone.
S2: A peck on. Yes.
S3: Oh , well , gee , this is really exciting. I just want to jump on my computer and see what I can find out. That's wonderful.
S2:
S3: They're also very , very generous. You know , sometimes we'll we'll we'll be stumped. Grant and I will be stumped. And , um , we we say , well , we're really lucky that we have a public radio listenership because those listeners are really generous , and people have called us to educate us and share their stories about language. Um , you know , everybody wants to step up and help and I and and they really value , um , history. And , you know , when it comes to words , that means valuing etymology and learning about why things are the way they are. So , um , I just I'm just so grateful that that we can help scratch that. Uh , that that curiosity I like to think of , of a way with words as , as a place that that respects your intellectual curiosity and is , like all of public radio , a place for thoughtful civil conversation. Yeah.
S2: Yeah.
S3: Um , I'm trying to think of of. We had a woman named Mary Gordon who called us from , uh , I think it was Austin , Texas. And , um , and I should mention that you can find all of our past episodes at Wayward Radio. So if I'm getting this story wrong , you can go to our website and listen to hundreds of past episodes and find this conversation that we had with Mary Gordon , who wanted to know the plural of squash because she had taken her elderly father to the doctor. And he had. He always brought the doctor's vegetables just as a as a sweet gift. And he had put quite a few of these yellow gourds , um , into his shirt and was passing them out , um , to medical folks there at the doctor's office. And she said , was he passing out squashes or squashes ? I mean , just the tiniest , tiniest question like that , you know , is it often or often ? And it's both , I should say. But but , you know , sometimes the tiniest question from a listener if , if they're a , you know , if , if they're a good storyteller and , and we try to get that kind of listener on the show , if they're a good storyteller or they're particularly lively , um , and just colorful , um , they're going to get on the show. And , um , and as I said , it can be the most minor of , um , of points of language , but , um , sometimes those conversations are just hilarious or heartwarming. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well , you know , you'll be bringing your new book to Warwick's later this week , and you'll also be a featured author at the San Diego Book Festival later this month.
S3: Um , so people should check out the website for the for the book festival and , and find out when exactly we're going to be there. Once , once the date gets closer. So so I'm sharing grant , um , with , uh , readers and , um , well , what I want to share with readers in general , uh , with the book is , um , the joy of language and the power of words to connect us. You know , words don't have to divide us. They can be be a point of connection or a bridge rather than a wall , because there's so much to be curious about when it comes to language and , um , and the dividends that it pays to have these conversations about where words come from or how we use this or that , uh , turn of phrase , um , it's it's I just find it so rewarding and enriching , um , because language didn't spring up by itself. You know , they're there. Uh uh , it's not arbitrary. Every word has a story. And Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that the etymology finds the dentist word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. And so , I guess most of all , I want to share the joy of language and all of that fossil poetry with folks.
S2: That's great. Is that what keeps you hooked on language in words all these years later ? Yes.
S3: I think that there are all these connections between and among words that are hiding right there in plain sight. I like to tell people that when we investigate the origins of words , for example , we discover vestiges of the past. And if you know that the Latin word vestigial means footprint , then you hear that Latin word in both the word investigate and vestige. So there are all these connections all around us , hiding right there in plain sight. And to me , it's just just delightful to see them. I mean , it's sort of like having X-ray vision , I think.
S2: Well , I've been speaking with Martha Barnette. She's co-host of the weekly radio show Away With words , which airs on KPBS Sundays at 10 a.m.. She's also out with a new book , Friends with words , Adventures and Language Land. She'll be a featured author at the San Diego Book Festival on August 23rd. Details are on our website , KPBS. Martha , congratulations to you. It's been such a pleasure , and thanks for joining us.
S3: It has been a pleasure. Thank you so much , Jade.
S2: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
