A Way with Words

Put a Snap on the Grouch Bag - 5 May 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 5 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT

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.

The Secret Language of Families - 28 Apr. 2008

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

[This episode first aired January 19th and 20th, 2008.]

Does your family use a special word you've never heard anywhere else? A funny name for 'the heel of a loaf of bread,' perhaps, or for 'visiting relatives who won't leave.' In this week's episode, Martha and Grant discuss 'family words,' and Martha reveals the story behind her own family's secret word, 'fubby.'

Why do we say that someone who's pregnant is 'knocked up'? The hit movie starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen has a caller wondering about this term.

A man whose last name is McCoy wants a definitive answer about the origin of the expression 'the real McCoy.' He's been told it comes from the name of turn-of-the-century boxing champ Kid McCoy. Is that really the case?

A Michigander wants to know about the difference between 'titled' and 'entitled.' She'd assumed that a book is 'titled' Gone with The Wind and a person is 'entitled' to compensation for something. Grant and Martha explain it's a little more complicated than that.

Quiz Guy Greg Pliska presents a quiz about 'False Plurals,' based on the old riddle: What plural word becomes singular when you put the letter 's' at the end of it? (Hint: Think of a brand of tennis racket, as well as the former name of a musical artist before he changed it back again.)

Quick, which is faster? Something that happens 'instantly' or that happens 'instantaneously'? A caller wants to know if there's any difference between the two.

A Brazilian has been researching why actors use the unlikely expression 'break a leg' to wish each other well before going on stage. He suspects it's a borrowing of a German phrase that means, 'May you break your neck and your leg,' but he's not sure.

A caller who lived in the Bay Area during the 1960s remembers using the word 'loosecap' to describe someone who's 'not playing with a full deck.' He wonders if he and his friends are the only ones to use it, as in, 'Don't be such a loosecap!'

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to decipher the slang phrases 'dance at two weddings' and 'put the big pot in the little pot.' She also shares her own favorite slang terms for 'crumb crusher,' 'rug rat' and 'ankle biter.' By the way, you can read Grant's essay about slang terms for small children, 'Sprogs in a Poop Factory,' here. His column about language appears every two weeks in The Malaysia Star newspaper.

A caller fears that the term 'Indian giver' is politically incorrect, and wants an alternative to teach her children.

A Princeton University student wonders if his school can lay claim to being the first to apply the Latin word 'campus' to the grounds of an institution of higher learning.

By the way, if you want to read about more family words, check out Paul Dickson's book, 'Family Words: A Dictionary of the Secret Language of Families.'

Here's hoping all of you are happy fubbies!

See A Man About A Horse - 21 Apr. 2008

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

[This episode first aired January 12th and 13th, 2008.]

In this week's episode, Martha and Grant discuss not-to-be-believed articles about language from the satirical newspaper The Onion, including one headlined 'Underfunded Schools Forced to Cut Past Tense from Language Programs.'

By the way, did you ever notice how ONION is ZO-ZO if you tilt your head to the right?

A caller has a friendly disagreement with a pal: Is the expression 'tide me over' or 'tie me over'? Hint: The answer she gets should tide her over.

If a dictator dictates, and an aviator aviates, then does a commentator 'commentate'? A caller complains that this last word gives him the willies. Does an alligator alligate?

A middle-schooler who's reading 'Anne of Green Gables' is puzzled by a mention of 'breakfast, dinner, and supper.' She wants to know if the words 'dinner' and 'lunch' really interchangeable.

The fur flies when Greg Pliska unleashes a word puzzle involving the names of animals.

Also speaking of animals, an immigrant from India recounts his confusion the first time he heard the expression 'I'm going to go see a man about a horse.' How in did that become a euphemism for 'I'm going to go to the bathroom'?

A former West Virginian reports that she grew up hearing a strange word: 'charny.' In her part of the country, she says, it means 'dirty' or 'filthy,' and she always heard it pronounced 'chee-YAR-nee.'

This week's Slang This! contestant, a comic-book illustrator from Providence, R.I., tries to guess the meaning of the expressions 'hat-catcher' and 'to go shucks.'

What IS the longest word in the English language? 'Antidisestablishmentarianism'? 'Floccinaucinihilipilification'? Or 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,' maybe? Martha and Grant discuss such sesquipedalian contenders for the title of Longest English Word.

Where do you put those exclamation points and question marksâdo they go inside or outside the quotation marks? Can you say, 'We have the answer!'?

Confused about whether 'biweekly' means 'twice a week' or 'twice a month'? Martha rants about why the using the words 'biweekly' and 'bimonthly' at all is a bad idea, period.

Grant shares listener email about the origin and meaning of the term 'g-job.'

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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.

Word Encounters of the First Kind - 14 Apr. 2008

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

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.â

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.

Nicknames Give Me the Heebie-Jeebies and the Vapors - 7 April 2008

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

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.

Typewriters We Have Loved - 31 Mar. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT

(This episode first aired January 5, 2008.)

Ding! In this week's episode, Mark Twain would be pleased. Reports that it's the end of the line for the typewriter have been greatly exaggerated. Well, slightly anyway: it's not the horseless carriage return yet. Martha and Grant wax nostalgic about the pleasures of pecking away at a rumbling, shuddering Selectric.

A newspaper headline about a faltering legislative proposal prompts a caller to ask: Should they have written 'floundering' or 'foundering'?

A longboarder reports she and her fellow surfers refer to young surfers as 'groms' or 'grommets'--not to be confused, of course, with 'hodads' and 'kooks.' But where'd that surfing lingo come from?

Greg Pliska presents a punny political puzzle about the names of presidential candidates.

A listener says his sister reprimanded him for using the term 'rule of thumb.' She says the expression derives from an old British law that allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick, as long as it's no wider than his thumb. Is that story true?

A caller wonders if the acrobatic 'alley-oop' in basketball is connected with the V.T. Hamlin comic strip, 'Alley Oop.'

Is 'irregardless' a real word? A caller wants his wife to stop saying it. Good thing he loves her regardless!

A commuter hears a radio report about an organization that's 'giving away condoms like they were going out of style.' But, he wonders, if they're really 'going out of style,' then why are they so popular? Isn't the phrase 'giving them away like they were going out of style' contradictory?

In California, everybody gets a little crazy when those hot, dry winds called 'Santa Anas' start blowing. A caller asks the origin of the name. Is it a translation of Spanish for 'Satan's wind'?

By the way, here's how novelist Raymond Chandler described that meteorological phenomenon in his short story, 'Red Wind':

'There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.'

That's all the hot air we have time for this week!

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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.

Bite the Wax Tadpole - 24 March 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT

(This episode first aired December 15, 2007.)

In this episode, Martha and Grant discuss advertising slogans and product names supposedly botched in translation.

'Biting the Wax Tadpole'? It's the wacky title of a new book by language enthusiast Elizabeth Little which has Martha and Grant talking about whether Coca-Cola and Chevrolet ran into cultural translation problems when selling products abroad. Did the Chevy Nova really sell poorly in Latin America because 'No va' means 'don't go' in Spanish?

A caller wants help understanding a phrase he saw in 'Sports Illustrated': 'enough money to burn a wet dog.'

Other callers have weird words on their minds, including 'biffy' (meaning 'toilet') and 'gedunk' (meaning 'ice cream' or 'a snack bar' where you might buy sweets).

Greg Pliska has a quiz about chemical names that should exist but don't.

A caller asks about how lakes get named and we talk about a lake with a 45-letter Indian name that may or may not translate as, 'You fish on your side, I fish on my side and nobody fishes in the middle.' It's Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.

A caller from Indiana wonders if the T9 text-messaging function has led to the term 'book' being a new term for 'cool.'

This week's slang contestant learns about the slang terms 'bluebird' and 'corpsing.'

A New York caller is incensed by the verb 'incent' and a California listener is puzzled when his Southern relatives observe that his new baby is 'fixing to tune up' whenever she's about to start crying.

A caller from San Diego has a friendly disagreement with friends about the phrase bald-faced lie v. bold-faced lie.

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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.(This episode first aired December 15, 2007.)

In this episode, Martha and Grant discuss advertising slogans and product names supposedly botched in translation. They also recommend an eclectic mix of books for the word-lover on your holiday list, from military slang to Yiddish.

'Biting the Wax Tadpole'? It's the wacky title of a new book by language enthusiast Elizabeth Little which has Martha and Grant talking about whether Coca-Cola and Chevrolet ran into cultural translation problems when selling products abroad. Did the Chevy Nova really sell poorly in Latin America because 'No va' means 'don't go' in Spanish?

A caller wants help understanding a phrase he saw in 'Sports Illustrated': 'enough money to burn a wet dog.'

Other callers have weird words on their minds, including 'biffy' (meaning 'toilet') and 'gedunk' (meaning 'ice cream' or 'a snack bar' where you might buy sweets).

Greg Pliska has a quiz about chemical names that should exist but don't.

A caller asks about how lakes get named and we talk about a lake with a 45-letter Indian name that may or may not translate as, 'You fish on your side, I fish on my side and nobody fishes in the middle.' It's Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.

A caller from Indiana wonders if the T9 text-messaging function has led to the term 'book' being a new term for 'cool.'

This week's slang contestant learns about the slang terms 'bluebird' and 'corpsing.'

A New York caller is incensed by the verb 'incent' and a California listener is puzzled when his Southern relatives observe that his new baby is 'fixing to tune up' whenever she's about to start crying.

A caller from San Diego has a friendly disagreement with friends about the phrase bald-faced lie v. bold-faced lie.

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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 - 17 Mar. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT

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 'âer,' 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.

Paper to Pixels, Pages to Screens - 10 Mar. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT

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.

Celebrate National Grammar Day - 3 Mar. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 3 Mar 2008 05:01:00 GMT

Do you know where your participle is dangling? Martha and Grant salute National Grammar Day on March 4.

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) 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 - 25 Feb. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT

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 at the end of the month.

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.

Expresso Dating and Dying Tongues - 18 Feb. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT

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 resumÃ.' 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.

Squeejawed Red-heads and Grockles - 11 Feb. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT

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) WAYâWORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, WayWord LLC.

Insegrevious Paratereseomaniacs - 04 Feb. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT

This episode first aired December 8th and 9th, 2007.

This week Martha and Grant honor winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes, those wacky awards for weird academic research and they help a caller decipher a puzzling word from a personals ad: what does 'paratereseomaniac' mean?

A electronic teenager repellent? An alarm clock that runs away from you to make you'll wake up? Yep, it's the Ig Nobel Prizes, those awards for academic research that first makes you laugh and then makes you think. Martha and Grant honor this year's winners for linguistics and literature.

A caller shares colorful expressions from her Texas-born mother, including 'turkey tail' and 'I'm gonna snatch you bald-headed.' She also wonders why her mother says' bread and butter' every time they're walking together and an object in their path makes them step to either side of it.

A pair of business partners disagree whether to use one word, 'website,' or or two words, 'Web site.'

Greg Pliska presents a groaner of a quiz about world capitals. Let's just put it this way: the number of puns in this quiz will be Dublin exponentially.

A former resident of Buffalo, New York, puzzles over a strange word in a 12-year-old personals ad. What exactly is a 'paratereseomaniac' with extensive knowledge of osculation'?

A former Navy man has a pet peeve about using the word 'utilize' instead of 'use.'

Did Gary Owen invent the word 'insegrevious'? And is there a category for words that can mean anything you want them to?

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant learns the difference between a 'trailer queen' and 'soup spitter.'

A wife seeks consolation because her husband always implores her to 'drive safe' instead of 'drive safely.' Martha says if he really loves her, he'll use an adverb. Grant says it's a message of love, so maybe the '-ly' doesn't matter so much.

You may have learned that an 'estuary' is where a river meets the sea, but a reference librarian asks whether she should eschew estuary as a word for the confluence of freshwater bodies. Martha and Grant tide her over with some more information.

Road Trip! - 28 Jan. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT

In this episode, a listener says his friend Harold does all his 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 fond memories of playing 'padiddle.' The game involves at least two people in a car, an oncoming vehicle with a headlight out, and--depending on which version of the game you play--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.

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.

The Secret Language of Families - 21 Jan. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT

Does your family use a special word you've never heard anywhere else? A funny name for 'the heel of a loaf of bread,' perhaps, or for 'visiting relatives who won't leave.' In this week's episode, Martha and Grant discuss 'family words,' and Martha reveals the story behind her own family's secret word, 'fubby.'

Why do we say that someone who's pregnant is 'knocked up'? The hit movie starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen has a caller wondering about this term.

A man whose last name is McCoy wants a definitive answer about the origin of the expression 'the real McCoy.' He's been told it comes from the name of turn-of-the-century boxing champ Kid McCoy. Is that really the case?

A Michigander wants to know about the difference between 'titled' and 'entitled.' She'd assumed that a book is 'titled' Gone with The Wind and a person is 'entitled' to compensation for something. Grant and Martha explain it's a little more complicated than that.

Quiz Guy Greg Pliska presents a quiz about 'False Plurals,' based on the old riddle: What plural word becomes singular when you put the letter 's' at the end of it? (Hint: Think of a brand of tennis racket, as well as the former name of a musical artist before he changed it back again.)

Quick, which is faster? Something that happens 'instantly' or that happens 'instantaneously'? A caller wants to know if there's any difference between the two.

A Brazilian has been researching why actors use the unlikely expression 'break a leg' to wish each other well before going on stage. He suspects it's a borrowing of a German phrase that means, 'May you break your neck and your leg,' but he's not sure.

A caller who lived in the Bay Area during the 1960s remembers using the word 'loosecap' to describe someone who's 'not playing with a full deck.' He wonders if he and his friends are the only ones to use it, as in, 'Don't be such a loosecap!'

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to decipher the slang phrases 'dance at two weddings' and 'put the big pot in the little pot.' She also shares her own favorite slang terms for 'crumb crusher,' 'rug rat' and 'ankle biter.' By the way, you can read Grant's essay about slang terms for small children, 'Sprogs in a Poop Factory,' here. His column about language appears every two weeks in The Malaysia Star newspaper.

A caller fears that the term 'Indian giver' is politically incorrect, and wants an alternative to teach her children.

A Princeton University student wonders if his school can lay claim to being the first to apply the Latin word 'campus' to the grounds of an institution of higher learning.

By the way, if you want to read about more family words, check out Paul Dickson's book, 'Family Words: A Dictionary of the Secret Language of Families.'

Here's hoping all of you are happy fubbies!

See A Man About A Horse - 14 Jan. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT

In this week's episode, Martha and Grant discuss not-to-be-believed articles about language from the satirical newspaper The Onion, including one headlined 'Underfunded Schools Forced to Cut Past Tense from Language Programs.'

By the way, did you ever notice how ONION is ZO-ZO if you tilt your head to the right?

A caller has a friendly disagreement with a pal: Is the expression 'tide me over' or 'tie me over'? Hint: The answer she gets should tide her over.

If a dictator dictates, and an aviator aviates, then does a commentator 'commentate'? A caller complains that this last word gives him the willies. Does an alligator alligate?

A middle-schooler who's reading 'Anne of Green Gables' is puzzled by a mention of 'breakfast, dinner, and supper.' She wants to know if the words 'dinner' and 'lunch' really interchangeable.

The fur flies when Greg Pliska unleashes a word puzzle involving the names of animals.

Also speaking of animals, an immigrant from India recounts his confusion the first time he heard the expression 'I'm going to go see a man about a horse.' How in did that become a euphemism for 'I'm going to go to the bathroom'?

A former West Virginian reports that she grew up hearing a strange word: 'charny.' In her part of the country, she says, it means 'dirty' or 'filthy,' and she always heard it pronounced 'chee-YAR-nee.'

This week's Slang This! contestant, a comic-book illustrator from Providence, R.I., tries to guess the meaning of the expressions 'hat-catcher' and 'to go shucks.'

What IS the longest word in the English language? 'Antidisestablishmentarianism'? 'Floccinaucinihilipilification'? Or 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,' maybe? Martha and Grant discuss such sesquipedalian contenders for the title of Longest English Word.

Where do you put those exclamation points and question marksâdo they go inside or outside the quotation marks? Can you say, 'We have the answer!'?

Confused about whether 'biweekly' means 'twice a week' or 'twice a month'? Martha rants about why the using the words 'biweekly' and 'bimonthly' at all is a bad idea, period.

Grant shares listener email about the origin and meaning of the term 'g-job.'

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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.

Typewriters We Have Loved - 7 Jan. 2008

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 7 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT

Ding! In this week's episode, Mark Twain would be pleased. Reports that it's the end of the line for the typewriter have been greatly exaggerated. Well, slightly anyway: it's not the horseless carriage return yet. Martha and Grant wax nostalgic about the pleasures of pecking away at a rumbling, shuddering Selectric.

A newspaper headline about a faltering legislative proposal prompts a caller to ask: Should they have written 'floundering' or 'foundering'?

A longboarder reports she and her fellow surfers refer to young surfers as 'groms' or 'grommets'--not to be confused, of course, with 'hodads' and 'kooks.' But where'd that surfing lingo come from?

Greg Pliska presents a punny political puzzle about the names of presidential candidates.

A listener says his sister reprimanded him for using the term 'rule of thumb.' She says the expression derives from an old British law that allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick, as long as it's no wider than his thumb. Is that story true?

A caller wonders if the acrobatic 'alley-oop' in basketball is connected with the V.T. Hamlin comic strip, 'Alley Oop.'

Is 'irregardless' a real word? A caller wants his wife to stop saying it. Good thing he loves her regardless!

A commuter hears a radio report about an organization that's 'giving away condoms like they were going out of style.' But, he wonders, if they're really 'going out of style,' then why are they so popular? Isn't the phrase 'giving them away like they were going out of style' contradictory?

In California, everybody gets a little crazy when those hot, dry winds called 'Santa Anas' start blowing. A caller asks the origin of the name. Is it a translation of Spanish for 'Satan's wind'?

By the way, here's how novelist Raymond Chandler described that meteorological phenomenon in his short story, 'Red Wind':

'There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.'

That's all the hot air we have time for this week!

Word Jocks Lettered in Language - 31 Dec. 2007

words@waywordradio.org — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT

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.'

This episode originally aired Dec. 1st and 2nd, 2007.

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.

Words of the Year - 24 Dec. 2007

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT

In this episode, Grant offers a peek at some expressions he's nominating for the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year vote in January. Will it be 'w00t,' 'subprime,' or something else? You can also check out Grant's longer look at 'word of the year' contenders in The New York Times Week in Review section on Sunday.

Get out your plastic utensils and pull up a folding chair! A caller's question about the origin of the word 'potluck' stirs up mouthwatering memories of crispy fried chicken, warm peach cobbler, and Jell-O salad with marshmallows. Okay, the Jell-O salad not so much. But still, whether you call it a 'pitch-in,' a 'carry-in,' 'dinner on the grounds,' a 'covered-dish supper,' a 'Jacob's supper,' a 'faith supper, or a potluck, it's all good eatin'!

An Indiana listener complains that he can't stand to hear presidential candidates pronounce the word 'pundit' as 'pundint.'

Greg Pliska adds an apt and all-round admirably appealing appraisal of alliterative ability. Meaning, our Puzzle Guy presents a quiz about words that start with the same letters. May we just say that Greg gives great game?

A Florida eighth-grader wants to know if a word she memorized for a spelling bee is real: 'agathokakological.' Easy for her to say.

An American cartographer for the United Nations reports that he and his British wife disagree over whether 'lollygolly' is a real word that means 'to dawdle.' Martha and Grant show the mapmaker where to draw the line.

Martha and Grant discuss a couple of strange new words making the rounds: 'lecondel' and 'earmarxist.'

This week's 'Slang This!' contestant finds out whether the word 'puddle' is a slang term for part of a car's muffler and if the expression 'hang paper' involves flying kites.

A Pennsylvania caller asks to clarify the difference between 'who vs. that.'

Finally, just in time for holiday get-togethers, Grant and Martha provide some linguistic family therapy to solve a mother-daughter conflict over whether 'nummy' is a legitimate term. Mom says it's perfect for describing a delicious meal, but her daughter finds that kind of language embarrassing. Is nummy a real word? Open the hangar, here comes the answer!

Bite the Wax Tadpole - 17 Dec. 2007

words@waywordradio.org — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT

In this episode, Martha and Grant discuss advertising slogans and product names supposedly botched in translation. They also recommend an eclectic mix of books for the word-lover on your holiday list, from military slang to Yiddish.

'Biting the Wax Tadpole'? It's the wacky title of a new book by language enthusiast Elizabeth Little which has Martha and Grant talking about whether Coca-Cola and Chevrolet ran into cultural translation problems when selling products abroad. Did the Chevy Nova really sell poorly in Latin America because 'No va' means 'don't go' in Spanish?

A caller wants help understanding a phrase he saw in 'Sports Illustrated': 'enough money to burn a wet dog.'

Other callers have weird words on their minds, including 'biffy' (meaning 'toilet') and 'gedunk' (meaning 'ice cream' or 'a snack bar' where you might buy sweets).

Greg Pliska has a quiz about chemical names that should exist but don't.

A caller asks about how lakes get named and we talk about a lake with a 45-letter Indian name that may or may not translate as, 'You fish on your side, I fish on my side and nobody fishes in the middle.' It's Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.

A caller from Indiana wonders if the T9 text-messaging function has led to the term 'book' being a new term for 'cool.'

This week's slang contestant learns about the slang terms 'bluebird' and 'corpsing.'

A New York caller is incensed by the verb 'incent' and a California listener is puzzled when his Southern relatives observe that his new baby is 'fixing to tune up' whenever she's about to start crying.

Grant and Martha recommend books for the word lover on your holiday shopping list:

Grant's picks:

'Fubar: Soldier Slang of World War II' by Gordon L. Rottman

'Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin' by Nicholas Ostler

Martha's Picks:

'Just Say Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion' by Michael Wex

'The Dord, The Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words' by Anu Garg

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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 2007, WayWord LLC.