An anadrome is a word that forms a whole new word when you spell it backwards. For example, the word “stressed” spelled backwards is “desserts.” Some people’s first names are anadromes. There’s the girl named Noel in honor of her father Leon, and the woman named Edna who adopted the name Ande. Speaking of names, know anybody whose occupation fits their name? Maybe a college administrator named Dean, or a breadmaker named Baker? Well, there’s a name for that concept: nominative determinism. Plus, a conversation about how hard it can be to gracefully end… a conversation. Also: a puzzle about famous names, Wellerisms, kaffedags and fika, a kissing game, moco, greissel, twacking, the plural of computer mouse, and more.

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what’s the flash part of that word about? Also, if you’re a nervous Nellie, you’re skittish and indecisive—both characteristics of an American politician who earned that nickname in the 1920s. And, rhinestone: The name of this sparkly fake gem has a history that involves a famous river in Europe. Plus, the many names for toilet paper rolls and the sounds you can make with them, pull a seam, a puzzle all about the word it, a blessing and a curse, hitten vs. hit, idea vs. ideal, shaving yak hair vs. shaving gnat hair, daylo, knocking something galley-west, the evolving meaning of dab, and the role of cultural context in learning languages. All of which you should listen to right smack now!

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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For rock climbers, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, the word send has taken on a whole new meaning. You might cheer on a fellow snowboarder with Send it, bro! — and being sendy is a really great thing. Plus: a nostalgic trip to Willa Cather’s’ Nebraska home inspires a reading from one of her classic books about life on the American prairie. And what do they call a sudden, heavy rain where you live? A gully-washer? A frog-strangler? Or maybe even a bridge-lifter? All that, and the flowery language of seed catalogs, rank and file, cut me a husk, I am sat down vs. I am sitting down, Lead on, MacDuff! vs. Lay on, MacDuff!, a hematological puzzle, and a popular Spanish-language refrain about an extremely long goodbye.

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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In 1944, an Italian scientist discovered a drug that he later named for his wife. His wife’s name was Marguerite, but she went by Rita — which is why this now familiar drug is known as Ritalin. Plus, a poem about churning butter shows how a writer can draw astonishing beauty out of the most everyday of tasks. And the exclamation holy Toledo! probably refers to a city thousands of miles from the one in Ohio. Also: anapodoton, white sepulchre, why various languages have different words for with, a heart-healthy quiz, naming litters of puppies, no siree Bob!, nuthouse and nutty, deadpool and death pool, coagulated sunlight, and I feel like I’m going to hell on a scholarship.

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for "stairs," and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don't already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It's the act of trying to hide your sneeze while wearing a face mask. Also, how the vocabulary of science fiction influences our everyday conversation, from the tribble on your hat to vaccine development at warp speed! Plus unkempt vs. unkept, erase vs. delete, tribbles vs. pompoms, placid, meuf, a cryptic quiz, a tasty pangram, Barney for "trouble," earthborn, apple-dancing, dirtsider, one hand washes the other and both hands wash the face, and You must be holding your mouth wrong!

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a foreign language. And third, find out what you truly believe, because if you’re not writing from your beliefs, then you’re just passing along information. And: if someone says they’re going to plant flags at a gravesite, they may not mean what you think. That’s because the word flag is also the name for a certain flower. Plus, if helicopter parents hover protectively around their kids … what do golf parents do? All that, along with in a brown study, pitcher-proud, ring-tailed ripsnorter, gleepers, clackers, a brain-busting take-off puzzle, thing like that and all, and there are no bones in ice cream. Ye gods and little fishes!

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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Thunderstorms might sound scary, but playful explanations for all those booms can help reassure little ones: How about the potato wagon’s rolling over the bridge? Or the angels are going bowling? Plus, if you just finished enjoying an audiobook, you might say you’ve read it, but a listener asks if there’s a better word. And: towns with names that are three letters long — or less. They’re fun to say, and super easy to spell! The town of Eek, Alaska, for example. Plus, the use of humming to mean “stinking,” slashfic and shipping, woodshedding, ratcatcher, bib and tucker, a memoir that features recipes handed down through a Black Appalachian family, a “buzzling” puzzle or a puzzling “buzzle,” I had one of those, but the wheels came off, and lots more.

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and distribute used dictionaries to help inmates with reading, writing, and schoolwork. Plus: For some low-tech family fun, how about egg-tapping? Traditionally played after on Easter, the game involves smacking a hard-boiled egg against an opponent’s. The person who ends up with an uncracked egg wins. And: Just how common is it to give a goofy name to a household appliance? Even your garbage disposal might get a moniker! Also, chelidon, knock the stink off, pony keg, pineapple posture, sprunny, wash-ashores, trailblazer, a punny puzzle about song titles, a Norwegian idiom that means “empty-headed,” a bagpipe serenade, and more. Dinna fash!

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have found their way into the river over the centuries, everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern wedding rings. A new book about mudlarking describes the irresistible appeal of searching for treasures and the stories behind them. Also, why do performers whisper the phrase toi, toi, toi to wish each other well backstage before a show? And, what’s the plural of octopus? Octopuses? Octopi? Something else? Plus, schniddles vs. schnibbles, visiting vs. talking, fotched a heave, creature comforts, trade-last, a timely pangram, Doves Type, a brain teaser about malapropisms, and more.

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary language and even internet slang to create a fresh take on this centuries-old poem — right down to addressing the reader as Bro! Also, what’s a word for feeling desperately lonely, but also comfortable in your solitude? And: the story of the word nickname. Plus laundry list, snaggletooth, breakfast, desayuno, circus lingo, gaffle, a search-engine brain teaser, hogo, logomachy, Waldeinsamkeit, and a book about book burning that’s bound in asbestos!

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.

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