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

By Hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.

Society & Culture Education

What's A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over about?

Light-hearted conversation with callers from all over about new words, old sayings, slang, family expressions, language change and varieties, as well as word histories, linguistics, regional dialects, word games, grammar, books, literature, writing, and more. You can join author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett on the show with your language thoughts, questions, and stories: https://waywordradio.org/contact or [email protected] In the US

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In the Ballpark - 30 Januar...

01.30.2023

Novelist Charles Dickens and the musician Prince were very different types of artists, but they also had a lot in common. A new book chronicling their extraordinary careers becomes a larger meditation on perfectionism and creativity itself. Plus, the military ...

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

01.30.2023 In the Ballpark - 30 January 2023 Novelist Charles Dickens and the musician Prince were very different types of artists, but they also had a lot in common. A new book chronicling their extraordinary careers becomes a larger meditation on perfectionism and creativity itself. Plus, the military ...
01.23.2023 You Talk Like a Sausage (Rebroadcast) - 23 January 2023 Do you refer to your dog or cat as “somebody”? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don’t mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for centuries, there was ...
01.16.2023 Old College Try - 16 January 2023 In just seconds, online text generators and chatbots can produce whole paragraphs of sophisticated prose. But what do advances in artificial intelligence mean for writers? What is lost and what’s gained when machine-writing replaces the work humans have always struggled ...
01.09.2023 Pushing the Envelope (Rebroadcast) - 9 January 2023 Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a ...
01.02.2023 Primary Colors (Rebroadcast) - 2 January 2023 Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence developed their own hand signs, with hundreds of gestures, that are still in use today. Plus, how do speakers of different languages distinguish similar shades and tints of colors such as ...
12.28.2022 Deep-Fried Air (Rebroadcast) - 26 December 2022 Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about . . . eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance for famous figures from Aristotle ...
12.19.2022 Stub Your Toe - 19 December 2022 Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences that are uniquely their own, from a point of view that is theirs and no one else’s. Plus, ...
12.12.2022 Big Bang - 12 December 2022 A savory Sicilian sausage roll is always a hit for the holidays. This dish goes by a long list of names that are equally delicious to say. Plus, why are those promotional quotes you see on the back of a ...
12.05.2022 East Overshoe (Rebroadcast) - 5 December 2022 Some people work hard to lose their accent in order to fit in. Others may be homesick for the voices they grew up with and try to reclaim them. How can you regain your old accent? Also, a compelling book ...
11.28.2022 Snookums and Snicklefritz - 28 November 2022 A new book about how animals perceive their environment reveals immense worlds beyond our own. A bee can see ultraviolet light, catfish have taste buds all over their bodies, and manatees use highly sensitive lips to examine nearby objects. Also, ...
11.21.2022 Herd of Turtles (Rebroadcast) - 21 November 2022 Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. Also, warm ...
11.14.2022 If Grandma Had Wheels - 14 November 2022 While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer researchers. A new collection online lets you eavesdrop on discussions about which words should be in the dictionary and why ...
11.07.2022 Mittens in Moonlight (Rebroadcast) - 7 November 2022 Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you're from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there's Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and … The Bronx — why do we ...
10.31.2022 Diamond Dust (Rebroadcast) - 31 October 2022 Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poetic. And a mom says her son is dating someone who's non-binary. She supports their relationship, but ...
10.24.2022 Sleepy Winks (Rebroadcast) - 24 October 2022 It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly convoluted and over-the-top — often with ...
10.17.2022 Touch Grass - 17 October 2022 High school students in Alabama share some favorite slang terms. If someone tells you to touch grass, they’re telling you to get a reality check — but the last thing you’d actually want to touch is dog water! Also, the ...
10.10.2022 Made from Scratch (Rebroadcast) - 10 October 2022 Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha's savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on climate. Grant's enjoying A Brief History of Everyone Who ...
10.03.2022 Salad Days (Rebroadcast) - 3 October 2022 A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It's a place for finding acceptance, support, and confidence for navigating the larger world. And:, "The High Priestess of Soul," Nina Simone, was one ...
09.26.2022 Funny Papers - 26 September 2022 There are word nerds, and then there’s the woman who set up a folding chair on sidewalks throughout the country, cheerfully dispensing tips about grammar. She recounts her adventures in a new book. And the story of the brilliant pioneer ...
09.19.2022 Your Imaginary Boyfriend (Rebroadcast) - 19 September 2022 We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from culture to culture. In Sweden, that starry band goes by a name that means "Winter Street," and in Hawaii, a ...
09.12.2022 Go Bananas - 12 September 2022 A caller wonders if she’s being hypersensitive about the way her boss addresses her in emails. Can the use of an employee’s first name ever reflect a power differential? And: a community choir director wants a term for “the act ...
09.05.2022 Beefed It (Rebroadcast) - 5 September 2022 The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don't they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a ...
08.29.2022 What in Tarnation - 29 August 2022 Language is always evolving, and that’s also true for American Sign Language. A century ago, the sign for “telephone” was one fist below your mouth and the other at your ear, as if you’re holding an old-fashioned candlestick phone. Now ...
08.22.2022 Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 22 August 2022 When there's no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — "you're on your own" — or CORN, for "Clean Out your Refrigerator Night." ...
08.15.2022 Blue Streak - 15 August 2022 How long can a newly married woman be called a bride? Does bride apply only as long as her wedding day, or does it extend right on through the couple’s silver anniversary and beyond? Plus, insightful advice about writing from ...
08.08.2022 Mystery Date (Rebroadcast) - 8 August 2022 A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child's letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these ...
08.01.2022 I Don't Have the Spoons - 1 August 2022 Whether it's a Rubik's cube or a round of Wordle, why do so many of us find puzzles irresistible? A new book celebrates the allure and psychological benefits of brain teasers. Plus, powerful language for talking about the chronic illnesses ...
07.25.2022 Sour Pickle (Rebroadcast) - 25 July 2022 You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it's too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway, who appeared in several movies with The Three Stooges. A new book shows that ...
07.18.2022 Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 18 July 2022 Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi. Shaky cheese, on the other hand, is the grated ...
07.11.2022 Excuse the Hogs - 11 July 2022 When a teenager went a week without talking as part of a school project, he noticed a surprising side effect: Instead of rehearsing a response to what other people were saying to him, he was focused on listening — and ...
07.04.2022 Scooter Pooting (Rebroadcast) - 4 July 2022 Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous ...
06.27.2022 All That and a Bag of Chips - 27 June 2022 We tend to take the index of a book for granted, but centuries ago, these helpful lists were viewed with suspicion. Some even worried that indexes would harm reading comprehension! A witty new book tells the story. Plus, the Latin ...
06.20.2022 Gold Dance (Rebroadcast) - 20 June 2022 People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over them. And gold dance? That's the happy jig you do if you find something ...
06.13.2022 By a Long Shot (Rebroadcast) - 13 June 2022 Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within 10 miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for ...
06.06.2022 Familiar Strangers - 6 June 2022 If you take up texting and social media late in life, there’s a lot to learn! A twenty-something wants advice getting her dad up to speed on memes, Instagram, and animated images. Plus, when you’re on a long road trip, ...
05.30.2022 Word Hoard - 30 May 2022 Ever wonder what medieval England looked and sounded like? In Old English, the word hord meant “treasure” and your wordhord was the treasure of words locked up inside you. A delightful new book uses the language of that period to ...
05.23.2022 When Pigs Fly (Rebroadcast) - 23 May 2022 Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. Plus, the origin story of the name William, and why it’s Guillermo in Spanish. And a five-year-old poses a question that ...
05.16.2022 Cool Beans (Rebroadcast) - 16 May 2022 If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d ...
05.09.2022 You Talk Like a Sausage - 9 May 2022 Do you refer to your dog or cat as “somebody”? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don’t mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for centuries, there was ...
05.02.2022 Love Bites (Rebroadcast) - 2 May 2022 The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, ...
04.25.2022 Pushing the Envelope - 25 April 2022 Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a ...
04.18.2022 Lasagna Hog (Rebroadcast) - 18 April 2022 Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm, while “high-considerateness” speakers tend more toward thoughtful pauses and polite ...
04.11.2022 Primary Colors - 11 April 2022 Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence developed their own hand signs, with hundreds of gestures, that are still in use today. Plus, how do speakers of different languages distinguish similar shades and tints of colors such as ...
04.04.2022 Kiss the Cow (Rebroadcast) - 4 April 2022 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 ...
03.28.2022 Deep Fried Air - 28 March 2022 Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about…eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance for famous figures from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud. Plus, ...
03.21.2022 No Cap, No Lie (Rebroadcast) - 21 March 2022 We take our voices for granted, but it’s truly miraculous that we communicate complex thoughts simply by moving our mouths while exhaling. A fascinating new book reveals the science, history, and linguistics involved in human speech. And although you might ...
03.14.2022 East Overshoe - 14 March 2022 Some people work hard to lose their accent in order to fit in. Others may be homesick for the voices they grew up with and try to reclaim them. How can you regain your old accent? Also, a compelling book ...
03.07.2022 Lead on MacDuff (Rebroadcast) - 7 March 2022 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 ...
02.28.2022 Herd of Turtles - 28 February 2022 Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. Also, warm ...
02.21.2022 Tribble Trouble (Rebroadcast) - 21 February 2022 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 ...

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