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PODCAST

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.

Fun conversation with callers from all over about new words, old sayings, slang, family expressions, word histories, linguistics, dialects, word games, books, literature, writing, and more. Be on the show with author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett. Share your thoughts, questions, and stories: https://waywordradio.org/contact or words@waywordradio.org. In the US and Canada, call or text 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free 24/7. Send a voice note or message via

society & culture language learning

All Episodes

53:45

Bottled Sunshine (Rebroadcast) - 20 July 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/07/20

If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric.” And: What’s your relationship with the books on your shelves? Do the ones you haven’t read yet make you feel guilty — or inspired? Plus, we’re all used to fairy tales that start with the words “Once upon a time.” Not so with Korean folktales, which sometimes begin with the beguiling phrase “In the old days, when tigers used to

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53:45

Queen Bee - 13 July 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/07/13

An artist asks strangers to write haiku about the pandemic and gets back poetic, poignant glimpses of life under lockdown. Plus, the new book Queenspotting features the colorful language of beekeeping! Bees tell each other about a good source of nectar by doing a waggle dance, and when a queen bee is ready to mate, she flies around followed by a drone comet. Also, do you refer to that savory red stuff dripped over your pasta as sauce? Or gravy? And: a brain teaser about homographs, dog a

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53:45

Cootie Shot (Rebroadcast) - 6 July 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/07/06

Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind! A new book of writing advice says a good sentence “imposes a logic on the world’s weirdness” and pares away options for meaning, word by word. • Your musician friend may refer to his guitar as an ax, but this slang term was applied to other musical instruments before it was ever used for guitars. • We need a word for that puzzling moment when you’re wondering which recyclables go in which bin. Discomposted? Plus: tickle bump, dipsy doodle, dark as

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53:45

Navel Gazing - 29 June 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/06/29

In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers, extolling the many benefits of libraries. One of the loveliest was from E.B. White, author of Charlotte’s Web. Plus, you may think navel-gazing is a relatively new idea — but it goes back at least to the 14th century, when meditating monks really did look like they were studying their bellies! Also, why don’t actors in movies say goodbye at the end of

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53:45

Ding Ding Man (Rebroadcast) - 22 June 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/06/22

In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classifying clouds — with Latin names we still use today, like cumulus, cirrus, and stratus. Also: when reading aloud to children, what’s the best way to present a dialect that’s different from your own? And: If you’re only guessing when you toss it in the recyclng bin, then you’re engaging in wishcycling — and that does more harm than good. Plus, T

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53:45

Take Tea for the Fever (Rebroadcast) - 15 June 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/06/15

Silence comes in many forms. Writer Paul Goodman says there is, for example, the noisy silence of “resentment and self-recrimination,” and the helpful, participatory silence of actively listening to someone speak. • The strange story behind the English words grotesque and antic: both involve bizarre paintings found in ancient Roman ruins. • The whirring sound of a Betsy bug and a moth’s dusty wings give rise to picturesque English words and phrases. • Also in this

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53:45

Yak Shaving - 8 June 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/06/08

There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little 7-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding -- and all in Latin. A new book argues that this rigorous curriculum actually nurtured the creativity that later flourished in Shakespeare's writing. Don't know Latin? You can still adapt those approaches to stretch and hone your own mind. Plus, why do we refer to an unpredictable person as a loose cannon? The answer lies in the terrifying potential of a large weapon aboard a

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53:45

Sun Dog (Rebroadcast) - 1 June 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/06/01

A clever pun can make the difference between a so-so phrase and a memorable one. The phrase “the last straw” refers to an old fable about too many items in a load, but it takes on a whole new meaning in a public-awareness campaign about the environment. • Why do we use the term mob scene to refer to an unruly crowd? • The Basque language spoken in the westernmost Pyrenees has long posed a linguistic mystery. Its origins are unclear and it’s unlike any other language in the region. •

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53:45

Oh For Cute (Rebroadcast) - 25 May 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/05/25

A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referred to a printing device used to produce lots of identical copies. • The link between tiny mythical creatures called trolls and modern-day mischief-makers. • The stories behind the color names we give to horses. • Wise advice about fending off despair: learn something new! • Also: grinslies, personal summer, cowboy slang, smell vs. odor, orient vs. orientate, trolls and trolling, and just for

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53:45

Coinkydink (Rebroadcast) - 18 May 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/05/18

Sometimes it's a challenge to give a book a chance: How many pages should you read before deciding it's not worth your time? There's a new formula to help with that decision — and it's all based on your age. • Have you ever noticed someone mouthing your words as you speak? That conversational behavior can be disconcerting, but there may be good reasons behind it. &bulll A punk rock band debates the pronunciation of homage: is it OM-ij, OH-mazh, or something else entirely? Plus: chevrolegs, on fleek,

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53:45

Up Your Alley (Rebroadcast) - 11 May 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/05/11

Book recommendations, including a collection of short stories inspired by dictionaries, and a techno-thriller for teens. Or, how about novels with an upbeat message? Publishers call this genre up lit. Plus, a clergyman ponders an arresting phrase in the book Peter Pan: What does the author mean when he says that children can be “gay and innocent and heartless”? And, if you spend money freely, you are a dingthrift. Also, waterfalling, pegan, up a gump stump, spendthrift, vice, cabochon, cultural

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53:45

Piping Hot (Rebroadcast) - 4 May 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/05/04

The game of baseball has alway inspired colorful commentary. Sometimes that means using familiar words in unfamiliar ways. The word stuff, for example, can refer to a pitcher’s repertoire, to the spin on a ball, or what happens to the ball after a batter hits it. Also: nostalgia for summer evenings and fond terms for fireflies, a word to describe that feeling when your favorite restaurant closes for good, and homonyms, forswunk, sweetbreads, get on the stick, back friend, farblonjet, and taco de

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53:45

Mimeographs and Dittos (Rebroadcast) - 27 April 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/04/27

In this episode: How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so why didn’t we also adapt the French for black and white? • Not every example of writing goes in one direction across the page. In antiquity, people sometimes wrote right to left, then left to right, then back again — the same pattern you use when mowing a lawn. There’s a word for it! • A whiff of those fragrant duplicated worksheets that used to be passed out in

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53:45

Cabin Fever - 20 April 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/04/20

The adjectives canine and feline refer to dogs and cats. But how does English address other groups of animals? Plus, cabin fever has been around much longer than the current pandemic. That restless, antsy, stir-crazy feeling goes back to the days when you could find yourself literally cooped up all winter in a cabin on the wild frontier. And, in Hungarian, there’s a whole genre of silly jokes that involve a character called the aggressive piglet, with a punchline screamed in your most obnoxious

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53:45

Chopped Liver (Rebroadcast) - 13 April 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/04/13

There’s a proverb that goes “beloved children have many names.” At least, that’s true when it comes to the names we give our pets. “Fluffy” becomes “Fluffers” becomes “FluffFace” becomes “FlufferNutter, Queen of the Universe.” Speaking of the celestial, how did the top politician in California come to be named Governor Moonbeam? Plus: still more names for slowpokes in the left-turn lane, munge and kludge, monkey blood and chopped liver, a German word for pout, the land of the living, a brain-teaser,

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53:45

Singing Sand - 6 April 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/04/05

Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means "money." In the same way, cat beer isn't alcoholic — some people use cat beer as a joking term for "milk." And imagine walking on a beach with a long stretch of shoreline. With each step, the ground makes a squeaking sound under your feet. There's a term for the kind of sand that makes this yip-yip-yip sound. It's called barking sand. Plus, a listener describes some of the English she heard in a small Alaskan

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53:45

Truth and Beauty (Rebroadcast)

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/03/30

Malamute, kayak, and parka are just some of the words that have found their way into English from the language of indigenous people in northern climes. • In the 1970s, some scientists argued that two quarks should be called truth and beauty. • The many layers of words and worlds we invoke when we describe someone as the apple of my eye. • To have brass on one’s face, frozen statues, good craic, prepone, agathism and agathokakological, and the positive use of I don’t care. Read full show notes, hear

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53:45

Baby's Breath - 23 March 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/03/23

Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There's a word for that: googleganger. Plus, the language of hobbyists and enthusiasts: If you're a beekeeper, you call yourself a beek, and if you're an Adult Fan of LEGOs you may refer to yourself as an AFOL. Finally, what will you get if you order a bag of jo jos? In parts of the United States, you may just get a blank look -- but in others, ask for some jo jos and you'll get a nice, warm bag of tasty

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53:45

Dessert Stomach - 16 March 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/03/16

Funny cat videos and cute online photos inspire equally adorable slang terms we use to talk about them. • Also, when a salamander is not a salamander, the story of an Italian term for a dish towel used halfway across the world, Bozo buttons, betsubara, both vs. bolth, straight vs. shtraight, mlem, hoosegow, sticky bottle and magic spanner, caster sugar, a word game, and more. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with

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53:45

Hog on Ice - 9 March 2020

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers... ·

2020/03/09

One secret to writing well is . . . there is no secret! There's no substitute for simply sitting down day after day to practice the craft and learn from your mistakes. Plus, childhood mixups around word definitions can lead to some funny stories. After all, if you didn't know any better, why wouldn't you assume a thesaurus is a prehistoric creature? Finally, the word groovy wasn't always positive. In the 1880s, it meant just the opposite: someone stuck in a rut or in a groove. Plus: in the meantime,

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