A Way with Words

12/03/2022

I wish you had been there! Read the rest: https://waywordradio.org/been-there/ Then support the things you enjoy and help keep them in the world: https://waywordradio.org/give-now/

11/28/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/snookums-snicklefritz/ The tie between romantic novels and Romance languages, buying gingerbread = buying votes, oripulation, tchotchkes, an ear-tickling quiz, mocap slang, canooper, an outfit you drive, Flaubert on writer’s block, darcin, Snookums, and lots more.

11/28/2022

Join Grant online for language and linguistics smack talk and back talk this Wednesday! https://www.eventbrite.com/x/metafilter-online-events-tickets-469997263467 He'll be appearing in support of Metafilter, an online community he's been a part of since 1999. Lots of great events on the sked, and more to come!

11/18/2022

Earth now weighs six ronnagrams: New metric prefixes voted in

"Say hello to ronnagrams and quettameters: International scientists gathered in France voted on Friday for new metric prefixes to express the world's largest and smallest measurements."

Say hello to ronnagrams and quettameters: International scientists gathered in France voted on Friday for new metric prefixes to express the world's largest and smallest measurements, prompted by an ever-growing amount of data.

11/18/2022

Your "A Way with Words" hosts join Chris Kimball and a roster of amazing guests for a special Thanksgiving episode. This time, hear different ways to praise the chef and the wine. Tongues slapping eyebrows? Baby Jesus in velvet shorts? What? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/christopher-kimballs-milk-street-radio/id1158889592?mt=2

11/15/2022

There's another way to reach us — we've joined the federated social media network Mastodon at https://masthead.social/. Find the other ways to get your idea, question, or comment submitted to the show at https://waywordradio.org/contact We're open to having people from people all over the world be on the show!

11/14/2022

If grandma had wheels, she'd be this new episode! https://waywordradio.org/if-grandma-had-wheels/ Fun-to-say words, letters to an OED lexicographer, an alliterative brain teaser, wasper, crack shot, dessert buckle, terms for an adult child, naming weak coffee, the kind of hairpin I am, and more.

11/08/2022

Digging around Archive.org is like digging around a used bookstore! There are two books signed by Gelett Burgess, the guy who coined "blurb" (promotional remark on a book cover) and "bromide" (clichéd saying or platitude). Here's one: https://archive.org/details/areyoubromideors00burg/page/n1/mode/2up

11/05/2022

There Are Still Codes Throughout Ancient Roman Literature

Fascinating! A look at ancient Greek and Latin stenography and shorthand used by enslaved people.

For centuries we’ve ignored the marginalia writing of slave stenographers, but focusing on it now could give fresh insight into their lives, and into military and literary history.

10/20/2022

Welcome to the listeners of KEZL-FM, serving the Republican River Valley of Nebraska! And congratulations to the staff of KEZL for launching a new radio station! http://kezlfm.com/

10/17/2022

Why do we have 1 numerical system (Hindu-Arabic) worldwide but 100’s of languages? What caused this consolidation for numbers but not languages?

Why are numbers so standardized across very different world languages? A thorough and delightful answer from the "Ask Historians" subreddit:

I’m assuming there were multiple numerical systems at one point? Why is 7 * 7 written like this in many cultures but saying ‘seven times seven’ is...

10/17/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/touch-grass/ High school slang, history of "hangover," smell what someone steps in, Erin vs. Aaron, cute little whiffet, schussel, locoweed, custard wind, a calm puzzle, leaning toward sawyers, the skinny, guyascutus, and lots more.

10/14/2022

Your "A Way with Words" hosts are talking about outdoor eating on Christopher Kimball's "Milk Street" this weekend! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dog-eat-dog-world-of-ballpark-vendors/id1158889592?i=1000582651968

10/10/2022

Who else is in love with Maps on the Web? https://mapsontheweb.zoom-maps.com Tons of great language stuff! https://bit.ly/3SQurrI Origins for "egg" or "chess" in European languages, language families in India, number of letters in African alphabets, languages in Mali, and many more.

10/08/2022

Regarding the false etymology making the rounds which says Doc Holliday's movie line, "I'll be your huckleberry," has something to do with casket handles, see this https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/yhcbh2i and our attached advice.

10/04/2022

Add "A Way with Words" to your WhatsApp! https://wa.me/16198004443

10/04/2022

Who Said That?: Why Some Books Aren't Using Quotation Marks

Who said that? Why some books forgo quotation marks.

Sally Rooney's books, and many others, don't use quotation marks. What is gained, and lost, when books forgo this punctuation?

10/03/2022

Did you know that you can call "A Way with Words" with your language thoughts, ideas, and questions from other countries? 🇨🇦 1 877 929 9673 toll-free in Canada and the US
🇬🇧 UK 020 3286 5677
🇲🇽 Mexico 55 8421 8567
🇺🇳 +1 619 800 4443 from everywhere

09/27/2022

Saida in Amsterdam sent in this local building inscription in response to our discussion about such things: "Homo Sapiens Non Urinat in Ventum": 'A wise man does not urinate into the wind." https://waywordradio.org/building-inscriptions/

09/26/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/funny-papers/ Rinctums — noogies for new haircuts, greeting others with "Christmas gift!" at Christmastime, the brilliant pioneer whose name lives on in computing, slumgullion, comb graves, tear up Jack, swotting up your Klingon, building inscriptions, and lots more!

09/12/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/go-bananas/ Can using an employee’s first name be condescending? Funny bananas, glacial erratic, a Swahili riddle, defenestration, overmorrow, etui and tweezers, similar similes, Kirchenfenster, an Italian saying, a Spanish one, and more.

08/31/2022

Ope! Sorry, I'm going to need you to explain what that word means and where it came from.

Ope! The truth about who really says "ope!"

Diane Flath grew up in Wisconsin hearing and saying the word "ope." But she wondered why we say it, where it came from and what it means.

08/30/2022

Join your "A Way with Words" hosts and their nutty language with Christopher Kimball of "Milk Street": https://www.177milkstreet.com/radio/eyeball-jell-o-rhett-link-taste-test-everything

08/29/2022

Well, glorgy be! It's a new episode! https://waywordradio.org/what-in-tarnation/ Shifting sign language, "been there, done that," capitalizing "I," restaurant slang, pothery, janky, mafting, tarnation, brogans, gumption, diaeresis, Santa Cruz slang, laughing to see a pudding crawl, and more!

08/15/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/blue-streak/ When a bride is and isn't one, duck milking, get the goody out, frunk and froot, minor league word game, left in the lurch, a da Vinci riddle, an onomastic puzzle, Pepper Alley, where folks say food store, and lots more.

08/01/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/i-dont-have-the-spoons/ The irresistibility of puzzles, explaining chronic illness, wet dress rehearsal, ditloids, eat a peck of dirt, an ooh and ah game, pronouncing "aunt," racing heats, dialect prejudice, and more. So good, your tongue will slap your brains out!

07/18/2022

The "A Way with Words" video event is Thursday! Register for free to get the link: https://waywordradio.org/cookout Join your "A Way with Words" hosts for an hour of language goodies and a live question-and-answer session!

07/18/2022

Language pie! Pie in the sky, pie-hole, pie-chopper, pie charts, apple-pie order, and more places where the scent of fresh-baked pies wafts through the English language as your "A Way with Words" hosts join Christopher Kimball's "Milk Street." https://www.177milkstreet.com/radio/ancient-recipes-with-sohla-el-waylly-roman-cheesecake-medieval-apple-pie-and-fish-head-aspic

07/14/2022

Congratulations to Ada Limón, the new United States poet laureate! Hear Martha read Ada's poem “Instructions on Not Giving Up”: https://www.waywordradio.org/instructions-on-not-giving-up-poem/

07/11/2022

It's been a while — let's get together! Join your "A Way with Words" cohosts for another fun, free, live, online video cookout. You, us, and chit-chat about language. Thursday, July 21, 7 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. PT, 23h00 UTC. Register to get the link: https://waywordradio.org/cookout

07/11/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/excuse-the-hogs/ Focusing on listening, deplane, turning -cles words into gods, pronouncing "Missouri," cryptic crossword clues, jabroni, Chatham House rule, dress the bed, nux and nucleus, chewing book covers, railroad jargon, and lots more.

06/28/2022

Starting Sunday, July 3, you can hear "A Way with Words" throughout South Dakota, from Spearfish to Vermillion, on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Sundays at 9 a.m. Central, 8 a.m. Mountain. Welcome! https://www.sdpb.org/

06/27/2022

New episode: https://waywordradio.org/all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips/ Answering the phone, indexes, pronouncing "bona fides," ort buckets, crisp = cranky, one foot in the milk bucket, fan club brain game, French gestures, Dutchman, million-dollar family, dungarees, nuking food, and more.

06/20/2022

Listen with relish as your "A Way with Words" hosts join Christopher Kimball's "Milk Street" for a zesty, fervid conversation, once again un-spatchcocking the limbs of food and language. https://www.177milkstreet.com/radio/in-search-of-rare-foods-wild-coffee-fermented-mutton-and-hadza-honey

06/06/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/familiar-strangers/ Teaching your boomer to use memes, road buddies, sangwich, thalweg, stick season, quare, jimmycane, words from Nahuatl, camera and camaraderie, an eeeeeease brain tease, dollar and Neanderthal, umarell, "menos burros, más elotes," and more.

06/01/2022

Do Californians really not call their state "Cali"? It's complicated. https://archive.ph/jwkwq Feat.

05/30/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/word-hoard/ Medieval English, shotgun houses, apology gestures for drivers, feaking hawks, feather merchants, gradoo, spondulicks, echar un zorrito, tocayo and cuate, a take-off quiz, an onomatopoeic Old English word for "sneeze," and more.

05/09/2022

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/you-talk-like-a-sausage/ Can an animal be a "somebody"? Plus, English spelling history, Irish words alive in English, line vs. rope, when "evening" means "afternoon," pronouncing "hammock," an Iranian-American playwright, a word puzzle, and lots more.

05/07/2022

Listen as the "A Way with Words" hosts talk with Christopher Kimball on "Milk Street" about coded language at mealtimes: https://www.177milkstreet.com/radio/kimchi-and-rice-a-true-story-of-war-and-survival

04/28/2022

Damon Young: A letter to that man who emailed to correct my grammar -…

"A letter to that man who emailed me to correct my grammar"