A Way with Words

A Murphy, a Melvin, and a Wedgie - 15 March 2010

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:01:00 +0000

When it comes to joining Facebook affinity groups, grammar lovers have lots of choices. Take, for example, the group whose motto is Punctuation saves lives. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-eat-Grandma-or-Lets-eat-Grandma-Punctuation-saves-lives/276265851258 It's called Let's Eat Grandma!'' or 'Let's eat, Grandma! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-eat-Grandma-or-Lets-eat-Grandma-Punctuation-saves-lives/276265851258 Martha and Grant talk about their favorite tongue-in-cheek 'Facebook groups for grammar lovers.' Also this week: when to use 'apostrophes,' whether to distinguish between 'bring and take,' and the 'difference between a murphy and a wedgie.' Martha and Grant share some favorite Facebook groups: Ambrose Bierce was the baddest-ass lexicographer who ever lived. http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=I+judge+you+when+you+use+poor+grammar&init=quick#!/group.php?gid=2209136261&ref=ts I judge you when you use poor grammar. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2209553478&ref=search&sid=730080987.3196765532..1 I judge you when you call acceptable usage 'poor grammar.' http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=punctuation+saves+lives&init=quick#!/group.php?gid=44033721482&ref=ts What are grammar? http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=272109356251&ref=search&sid=730080987.1532898575..1#!/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=272109356251 People Who Always Have To Spell Their Names For Other People http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=what+are+grammar&init=quick#!/group.php?gid=2221197812&ref=ts Of course, you can also find 'A Way with Words' on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/waywordradio?ref=ts. Ever notice how you can sing the lyrics of 'Amazing Grace' to the theme from 'Gilligan's Island' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WbnDN14tw8 -- or for that matter, to The House of the Rising Sun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDE4URgxVas? Turns out there are many more examples of this. Is there a word for this musical phenomenon? (Did you know Garrison Keillor can sing 'Amazing Grace' to theme song of 'The Mickey Mouse Club' http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/posthost/2008/05/01/amazing_grace.php.) A Connecticut listener says her Generation Y friends make fun of her when she describes something happening in 'fits and starts.' Is it that antiquated a phrase? Where does it come from, anyway? Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a quiz about famous trios. Try this one: 'Steve Martin, Martin Short, and ___________?' If someone gives you 'crazy props or mad props,' they're congratulating you. A Chicago college student wants to know what props means in this context. What's the difference between 'bring and take'? When someone grabs your underwear from behind and gives it a good, vertical yank, it's called a 'wedgie.' A caller knows that term, but wonders whether and 'how a wedgie differs from a murphy or a melvin.' Grant quizzes Martha about the meaning of several rhyming verb and noun phrases: 'cuff and stuff,' the 'cherries and blueberries,' 'chew and screw,' 'eat it and beat it,' and 'flap and zap.' A Lawrenceville, Georgia, woman wonders: If chalkboards go the way of the buggy whip, what simile will replace the expression nails on a chalkboard? Grant answers a listener's email question about the meaning of the musical phrase 'chicky-wah-wah.' A caller from Veroqua, Wisconsin, is fascinated by 'hoarfrost' and wonders about the origin of its name. Grant explains its relation to the English term hoary. The mother of a boy named Hendrix wonders how to punctuate the possessive of his name. Should she add an apostrophe or apostrophe with an 's'? Hendrix' or Hendrix's? 'A Way with Words' is supported by its listeners. Donate today! http://www.waywordradio.org/donate -- 'A Way with Words' is supported through tax-deductible listener donations: drop a few bills in the donation jar today: http://www.waywordradio.org/donate/ Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

Sailor's Delight - 8 March 2010

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:01:00 +0000

'Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.' Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: slatch http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/slatch. Also this week: Is there a better alternative to the word 'mentee'? What's 'pooflapoo pie'? A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get 'on the stick.' The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is 'on the ball.' Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: 'on the kinipopo.' http://bit.ly/bHw1F6 What's the best term for 'someone who's being mentored'? A woman in a mentoring program at church thinks the word 'mentee sounds like 'manatee.' She's hoping for an alternative. Grant shares another weather-related word from Britain: parky. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=57638 Quiz Guy John Chaneski offers a puzzle in honor of the hosts' initials. Every clue prompts a two-word answer beginning with the letters M and B or G and B. For example: 'Paper or plastic?' A caller named Todd says that when people meet him for the first time, they sometimes call him Scott, even if he's wearing a nametag with his real name on it. It's happened too many times to be a coincidence, he says, and wonders if there's something about the double letters that registers the wrong name in people's minds. Why do we get other people's names wrong? Whip up a big batch of pistachio pudding, then add pineapple, walnuts, Cool Whip, and marshmallow bits, and what do you have? A Los Angeles woman says her grandmother used to make a dish with those ingredients that she called 'pooflapoo pie.' Is that just her family's name for it, or do other people refer to it that way? Other people call it 'Watergate salad' or 'ambrosia.' Have trouble remembering the difference between stalagtites and stalagmites? Martha shares a mnemonic that will help. A police officer says that the prosecutor edits out the word 'that' from the reports he submits, as in, 'The subject stated that he met the co-defendant at a party.' Is the word 'that' necessary here? Martha and Grant disagree. Also, the cop also has a brain-teaser for the hosts: Can you use the word 'that' five times consecutively in a sentence correctly? The hosts talk about the tricks they use to remember how to spell certain words. Why do we say that someone finely attired is 'dressed to the nines'? A woman says that when playing hide-and-seek with a small child, her mother-in-law says 'peep-eye'!' instead of 'peekaboo'!' Is that usage limited to certain parts of the country? And where do they say 'pee-bo'!'? Grant talks about two other weather-related terms, 'frontogenesis' and 'aeromancy.' When comparing one item with the rest of the items in a group, 'which is better: more or most'? -- 'A Way with Words' is made of paper: drop a few bills in the donation jar today: http://www.waywordradio.org/donate/ . Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

Jan Freeman, Write it Right - 4 March 2010

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:39:00 +0000

Write it Right One hundred years ago, American journalist and satirist Ambrose Bierce published a curmudgeonly book of writing advice called Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. In her new book, Boston Globe language columnist Jan Freeman explains where Bierce got his ideas about language, how his grammatical convictions compared with those of his contemporaries, and what they teach us about English today. The book is Ambrose Bierce's Write It Right: The Celebrated Cynic's Language Peeves Deciphered, Appraised, and Annotated for 21st-Century Readers. Recently, Freeman talked with Grant about Bierce and his cranky advice for speaking and writing well. http://www.amazon.com/Ambrose-Bierces-Write-Right-21st-Century/dp/0802717683 You can read much more by Jan Freeman (and we recommend that you do) in the archives of her columns in the Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/jan_freeman/ -- "A Way with Words" is made of paper: drop a few bills in the donation jar today: http://www.waywordradio.org/donate/ . Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

Sufficiently Suffonsified - 1 March 2010

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:01:00 +0000

What's in a pet's name? Martha and Grant swap stories about how they came up with names for their dogs. Also this week: Have you ever been called a 'stump-jumper'? How about a snicklefritz? And what's the last word in the dictionary? Depending on which dictionary you consult, it might be 'zythum,' 'zyzzyva,' 'zyxomma,' or 'zyxt.' Sometimes the process of naming a pet takes a while. The hosts talk about how their dogs' names evolved. A native Japanese speaker is mystified by the expression 'happy as a clam.' In Japanese, she says, if you had a good night's sleep you might say you 'slept like a clam' or 'slept like mud.' So why do English speakers think clams are content? What's the very last word in the dictionary? Depending on which dictionary you're using, you may see 'zythum,' 'zyzzyva,' 'zyxomma,' or 'zyxt.' This week's word puzzle from Quiz Guy Greg Pliska involves taking a word, adding an 'i' to the beginning, as if creating an Apple product, to get an entirely new word. For instance: 'This is how Steve Jobs begins a card game.' A caller from Princeton, Texas, remembers that after a satisfying meal, her late father used to push back from the table and say, 'I am sufficiently suffonsified. Anything more would be purely obnoxious to my taste. No thank you.' What heck did he mean by that? A Vermonter says he's sometimes called a 'stump-jumper.' Should he be flattered or insulted? Martha shares a couple of 'Tom Swifties,' those funny sentences that make great punny use of adverbs, like ''My bicycle wheel is damaged,' Tom said outspokenly.' Why do we say that someone who's happy is in 'hog heaven'? Martha tells the story behind the term 'Tom Swifty.' Grant shares some more funny examples from the 'A Way with Words' discussion forum http://www.waywordradio.org/discussion/episodes-1/a-whole-nother-full-episode/. 'Gradoo' is a word for something undesirable, the kind of thing you'd rather scrape off your shoe. A man who grew up in Louisiana wonders about the term, which he heard from both English and Cajun French speakers. Someone who says, 'I'll be there directly,' may not necessarily get there right away. How did the meaning of 'directly' change in some parts of the country to mean 'by and by'? 'You little 'snickelfritz'!' An Indiana man says his mother used to call him that when she meant 'You little rascal!' Although the term's meaning has changed over time, its original meaning was a bit naughty. -- 'A Way with Words' is made of paper: drop a few bills in the donation jar today: http://www.waywordradio.org/donate/ . Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

Spendthrift Snollygosters - 22 Feb. 2010

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:01:00 +0000

This week, it's the language of politics. Martha and Grant discuss two handy terms describing politicians: "far center" and "snollygoster." Also, a presidential word puzzle, "false friends," "spendthrifts," and a long list of "17th-century insults." So listen up, all you "flouting milksops," "blockish grutnols," and "slubberdegullions"! Grant explains the meaning of the new slang term "far center," and Martha tries to revive an antiquated term meaning "a corrupt politician," "snollygoster." Careful about how you spend your money? Then you're said to be "thrifty." So why is someone who isn't frugal called a "spendthrift"? "Pommy" is an often derogatory nickname used by Australians for the English. Does it come from an acronym for either "Prisoner of Mother England" or "Prisoner of Her Majesty"? The more likely story has to do with "sunburn and pomegranates." An older woman with a knack for finding older men to date? That's what you call someone with excellent "graydar." Speaking of politics, Quiz Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle featuring the names of U.S. presidents. Beware of "false friends," those words that don't translate the way you'd expect. For example, the word "gift" in German means "poison," and the Spanish word "tuna" means "the fruit of the prickly pear cactus." These tricky lookalikes are also called "faux amis." Is the term "refer back" redundant? Martha reports that listeners have been trying to help a caller http://www.waywordradio.org/down-a-chimney-up/ remember a word for someone who's exceptionally good at packing things in a confined space. She thinks she's found a winner: "stevedore." To keep something "at bay" means to maintain a safe distance from it. But does this expression derive from an old practice of using bay leaves to ward off pestilence? A Tallahassee caller wonders about the name for "terms that are capitalized in the middle," like MasterCard and FedEx. Grant explains that they're commonly called "CamelCase," not to be confused with "Studly Caps." Grant shares some slang he's found while exploring the game of "Skee-Ball," including to "hit the hundo." The hosts and a listener in Grand Rapids, Michigan, trade some 17th-century insults. For more, check out these references: Gargantua http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gargantua/Chapter_XXV and George Albert Nicholson's English Words With Native Roots And With Greek, Latin, Or Romance Suffixes <http://bit.ly/9xqrg6>. -- A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donate Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

The Language of Less Than Three - 15 Feb. 2010

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Whoever wrote "The Book of Love" neglected to include the handy emoticon <3, which looks like a heart if you turn your head sideways. Grant and Martha talk about how that bit of affectionate shorthand can function as a verb, and about the antiquated words for kiss, "osculate" and "exosculate." A Houston woman says her family makes fun of her for saying "waste not, want not." Does this proverb make literal sense? BTDubs, a San Diego caller notices that more of her co-workers are "talking in text," saying things like "BRB" instead of "be right back" or "JK" instead of "just kidding!" Is it a passing fad, or a new way of speaking? Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah... MmmmmWAH! Martha shares the "German verb that means to plant one last kiss" in a series of them. Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a fill-in-the-blank limerick puzzle, including: There was once a coed named Clapper In psychology class quite a napper. But her Freudian dreams Were so classic it seems That now she's a __________________. "I feel more like I do now than I did a while ago." The hosts discuss that and other examples of self-referential humor, like "Before I begin speaking, I'd like to say something." A woman having an affair with a married man is a mistress. So what's the word for an unmarried man who's having an affair with a married woman? Consort? Leman? Martha shares the famous passage from the poem by Catullus http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e5.htmthat begins, "Give me a thousand kisses..." Grant reads an excerpt from the 1883 volume, "The Love Poems of Louis Barnaval," by Charles de Kay http://bit.ly/aqMZ0G . What's the difference between a second cousin and a cousin once removed? Here's a helpful chart from Genealogy.com http://www.genealogy.com/16_cousn.html. What did the boy volcano say to the girl volcano? A caller from Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, wonders about the origin of "knock on wood." The hosts do, too. More about the unusual language of Ocracoke here http://www.waywordradio.org/how-about-a-game-of-meehonkey/. What's a "scissorbill"? A bird? A hog? And how did its name get transferred to refer to anyone who's lazy or ineffectual? -- A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donate Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

The Thought Plickens - 8 Feb. 2010

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:01:00 +0000

If you're inappropriately focused on the minutiae of a project instead of the bigger picture, you're said to be 'bike-shedding.' Grant talks about that modern slang term and Martha discusses a word that goes way back in time, right back to 'In the beginning,' in fact. The word is 'tohubohu,' and it means a 'mess' or 'confusion.'Grant and Martha discuss a new term, 'bike-shedding,' and an old one, 'tohubohu.'Where'd we get the term 'swan song'? A caller says this expression came up in conversation just before her retirement and she wonders about its origin. Martha reads email from listeners suggesting alternatives to the word retirement.Is the word 'criteria' singular or plural? Quiz Guy John Chaneski's puzzle is about phrases that suggest a pair of words that are spelled alike, except that in one of them, a letter is doubled. Try to guess the two nearly identical words suggested by this phrase: 'Wagered on a root vegetable.' It's likely America's greatest linguistic export: 'O.K.' A caller raised in the Philippines is curious about its origin. The hosts give him an answer, and also point out a familiar word in English that derives from the caller's native language, Tagalog.When is it more appropriate to use the word female as opposed to woman?David Pogue http://www.davidpogue.com/, technology columnist for the New York Times, grapples with a slang quiz. First he shares own his favorite slang term, 'nonversation,' then tries to guess the meaning of the archaic technological slang terms 'planktonocrit,' 'phenakistoscope,' and 'sphygmograph.'What's the correct pronunciation of crayon? Is it cray-on? Cran? Crown? Here's a dialect survey map http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_9.html that shows the distribution of these pronunciations.A Green Bay, Wisconsin, caller is curious about her mother's playful interjections. If someone said, 'Well,' her mother would add, 'Well, well. Three holes in the ground.' If someone started a sentence with 'So...' she'd interject, 'Buttons on your underwear!' Or if someone said, 'See,' she'd add 'Said the blind man as he picked up a hammer and saw.' And if they were watching a movie and the dramatic tension rose, she'd declare, 'The thought plickens!' The caller wonders if those expressions date back to a particular era or context, and says she's now taught them to her Indonesian husband. --Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

A Whole Nother - 1 Feb. 2010

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:01:00 +0000

For the final word on grammar, many writers turn to the Associated Press Stylebook http://www.apstylebook.com/. But if you find that stylebook too stuffy, you'll love 'Fake AP Stylebook' http://twitter.com/fakeapstylebook, the online send-up that features such sage journalistic advice 'The plural of apostrophe is 'apostrophe's.'' Grant and Martha share some favorite 'rules' from that guide. Also this week: Why are offices and apartments named after landscapes and wildlife that are nowhere to be seen? Is it correct to use the phrase 'a whole nother'? And what's the difference, if any, between a 'naturalist' and a 'biologist'?Grant and Martha share some of their favorite tweets from 'Fake AP Stylebook' http://twitter.com/fakeapstylebook, the Twitter feed that tweaks journalistic style and tropes, such as 'Do not change weight of gorilla in phrase, '800-lb gorilla in the room.' Correct weight is 800 lbs. DO NOT CHANGE GORILLA'S WEIGHT!'Natural names for unnatural objects. Why do subdivisions and office complexes have names invoking landscapes and animals that don't exist there? A Fort Wayne, Indiana, listener got to wondering about this after passing the 'Bay View Apartments' in her hometown: there's not a bay in sight. Here's the Billy Collins poem on that topic, 'The Golden Years' http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20415.What's happening linguistically when someone's using the second-person singular possessive in a list of items? A Charlottesville, Virginia, caller began wondering that recently after hearing a wood-flooring salesperson say, 'You got your maple, you got your cherry, you got your oak...'Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game featuring 'Tom Swifties,' those sentences that include a self-referentially funny adverb, such this one: ''Ow! You guys really know how to hurt a vampire,' Tom said _____________.'A Chicago man says he was caught up short when he caught himself writing the words 'a whole nother.' Is nother really a word? The book Grant recommends on the topic is 'Everything You Know about English is Wrong' http://everythingyouknowaboutenglishiswrong.com/, by Bill Brohaugh.Anyone ever hear the expression 'Thinkers uppers, thinkers it'? It means 'If you're going to mention something that should be done, then do it yourself.' 'Riddle time'! What English word can have four of its five letters removed and still retain its original pronunciation?A man who takes daily walks in the woods of upstate New York wants a word for the whooshing of the pines high above his head. The hosts suggest the Latin-based word 'susurration' http://www.wordnik.com/words/susurration, although they might also have suggested 'soughing' http://www.wordnik.com/words/sough.Martha and Grant share listeners' emails about language changes in the mouths of train conductors and military drill instructors.What does the 'O'' in Irish names like O'Malley or O'Riley mean?What's the difference, if any, between a naturalist and a biologist? Naturalists do it with their clothes off and biologists do it under a microscope? (Kidding!)Grant talks about the new slang term, 'zaprudering' http://www.tuaw.com/2010/01/18/zaprudering-the-invite-obsessive-fun-with-tuaw/, as in 'The fanboys get off on zaprudering the invite to the Apple product-release press conference.'A group of student architects who want their acronym to be 'CASA' have a question. Is it more grammatical to call it the 'Chicano Architecture Student Association' or 'Chicano Architectural Student Association'?Grant shares some odd high school team mascot names, including the Wooden Shoes and the Battling Bathers.This program is listener-supported. If you'd like to drop a few bucks in the tip jar http://waywordradio.org/donate, we'd be grateful. --Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

Down A Chimney Up - 25 Jan. 2010

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:30:00 +0000

Good poetry is even better when you read it aloud. For his anthology, 'Essential Pleasures' http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Pleasures-Anthology-Poems-Aloud/dp/0393066088, former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky selected works with just that in mind. Martha and Grant discuss a poem from the book with lines that are more delicious when spoken. Also this week: If a woman decides to keep her own name after getting married, should she be addressed as 'Ms. or Mrs.'? When you were young, what did you call 'your favorite blanket'? When do you 'redd up' the table, and what does it mean to be 'out like Lottie's eye'? The hosts talk about some verses from 'Essential Pleasures' http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20680, Robert Pinsky's anthology of poems meant to be read aloud. If a woman decides to keep her own name after getting married, should she be addressed as 'Ms.' or 'Mrs.'? 'Don't be frontin'!' A Texas college student is curious about the origin of 'fronting,' and learns that it goes back several decades to the world of petty criminals. What can go 'up a chimney down, but not down a chimney up'? Martha has that riddle's answer. Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a happy time with a word puzzle whose answers all include the word 'happy.' Try this: 'The nickname of Xaviera Hollander, as derived from the title of her bestselling 1971 memoir.' When you were small, did you have a favorite blanket? If so, what'd you call it? A 'woobie'? A 'blankie'? A listener says her grandmother called hers an 'ookoosh,' and wonders if the word reflects grandma's Czech roots. If you're driving and need to turn 180 degrees, you make a U-turn. But what do you make if you speak a language that doesn't include the letter 'U'? If you're a Hindi speaker, what do you call wearing a V-neck sweater in an A-frame house? When someone's fast asleep, a Texan might say that he's 'out like Lottie's eye.' But who's Lottie and what happened to her eye? Some children don't talk until they're age three or older, then go on to do just fine. Why do some kids start speaking relatively late in life? The hosts talk about a recent Ask Metafilter http://ask.metafilter.com/139980/Why-didnt-I-say-anything-until-I-was-three thread on that topic. Is there a word that describes someone who's good at visualizing how best to pack a suitcase or car? A Michigan woman is sure she heard such a term for someone who can visualize 3-D arrangements in advance, but darned if she can recall what it is. Can the hosts help? A Connecticut listener is suspicious of a Wikipedia entry that claims the slang term 'homie' derives from Latin 'homo,' meaning man. The Spanish phrase 'Donde lloran, estÃ al muerto' literally translates as 'Where there's crying, there's a dead person.' In everyday use, however, the meaning is somewhat different. You might use it, for example, to describe someone who claims not to have money when in fact he does. A bilingual caller wonders if there's an analogous expression that refers to someone who's miserly despite being wealthy. Grant recommends he check out 'A Dictionary of Mexican-American Proverbs' http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Mexican-American-Proverbs/dp/0313253854 by Mark Glazer. Another riddle I'm taken from a mine and shut up in a wooden case from which I'm never released, yet I'm used by almost everybody. Who am I? 'Redd up the table'! A California listener says he remembers hearing that all the time when growing up in Iowa, but now that he's on the West Coast, no one has any idea what he's talking about. -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.

Jack Lynch, Author of The Lexicographer's Dilemma - 22 Jan. 2010

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:55:00 +0000

You know that grammatical 'rule' about not ending a sentence with a preposition? Well, who ever decided finishing off a sentence like that is a bad thing? (Personally, we think it's one of the silliest things anyone ever came up with.) In his new book, The Lexicographer's Dilemma The Evolution of 'Proper' English, from Shakespeare to South Park, literary historian Jack Lynch offers a lively narrative about the evolution of such rules, starting in the 17th century, when grammar books were more like self-help guides for the upwardly mobile. He introduces us to the flesh-and-blood (and almost always quirky) grammarians and dictionary editors who created and popularized traditional rules that people still argue about today. Recently Lynch talked with Martha about why and how some of those rules came to be. http://www.amazon.com/Lexicographers-Dilemma-Evolution-English-Shakespeare/dp/0802717004/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_1 Incidentally, Lynch, an associate professor of English at Rutgers University, has published his own helpful guide to grammar and usage online. http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/ -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2010, Wayword LLC.