A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Episodes
Potatoes and Point - 15 December 2025
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If there’s a logophile on your gift list, you have lots of choices—including a new trivia game for language lovers and a murder mystery for the wo...
Minicast Bonus: Down Bucket
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant step into the historic streets of Marblehead, Massachusetts, where the simple cry of “Do...
Primary Colors (Rebroadcast) - 8 December 2025
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence still had to communicate about routine matters, from gardening to equipment repair. So they developed t...
Minicast Bonus: Picketwire
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant explore the ways foreign place names transform on official maps and in local slang. Discov...
Drop in the Bucket - 1 December 2025
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A sumptuous new collection of poems about specific photographs shows how the moment in time captured by camera can inspire a verbal work of art as wel...
Deep Fried Air (Rebroadcast) - 24 November 2025
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about . . . eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life c...
No Bones - 17 November 2025
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whippoorwills, bob whites, and chickadees. How do we decide the names of birds and what to call their calls? Plus, the last syllables of Arkansas an...
East Overshoe (Rebroadcast) - 10 November 2025
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some people work hard to lose their accent in order to fit in when they move somewhere else. But others may be homesick for the sounds they grew up wi...
Herd of Turtles (Rebroadcast) - 3 November 2025
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Chow Line - 27 October 2025
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Does language acquisition correspond with being ambidextrous? A woman notices her polyglot husband takes notes with his right hand for certain languag...
Big as a Breadbox - 20 October 2025
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Hawaiian word aloha is both a greeting and a goodbye, as well as a profound acknowledgement of the oneness with all living things. Plus, what’...
Mittens in Moonlight (Rebroadcast) - 13 October 2025
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 wor...
Diamond Dust (Rebroadcast) - 6 October 2025
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poeti...
Brass Tacks - 29 September 2025
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why would some Spanish speakers use adaptations of certain English words when perfectly good Spanish words for the same thing already exist? Plus, han...
Sleepy Winks (Rebroadcast) - 22 September 2025
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 B...
Cat Bristle - 15 September 2025
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write,...
Made from Scratch (Rebroadcast) - 8 September 2025
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist wh...
Good Egg, Bad Apple - 1 September 2025
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you like to use emojis, you have some 3800 to choose from—and the organization that approves them is about to announce even more. But do we reall...
Salad Days (Rebroadcast) - 25 August 2025
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It’s a place for finding acceptanc...
Tall Drink of Water - 18 August 2025
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why is it harder to talk if we don’t move our hands? Even when we’re talking on the phone we feel the need to gesture to aid communication. A new ...
Your Imaginary Boyfriend (Rebroadcast) - 11 August 2025
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Mox Nix - 4 August 2025
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You might be surprised to learn that a “hoosier” isn’t necessarily from Indiana. Around the St. Louis, Missouri, area, the term hoosier has a wh...
Beefed It (Rebroadcast) - 28 July 2025
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 expl...
Imaginary Friends - 21 July 2025
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alright, alright, alright! How do some catchphrases become part of the larger vernacular—to the point where people don’t always know the original...
Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 14 July 2025
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 YO...
Mystery Date (Rebroadcast) - 7 July 2025
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Eat My Hat - 30 June 2025
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you lived in your home so long that you don’t notice its flaws? In Sweden, they have a name for this condition: It’s hemmablind—literally,...
Sour Pickle (Rebroadcast) - 23 June 2025
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Ridge...
Straight and Narrow - 16 June 2025
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
English spelling is a hot mess, even for native speakers. But as a new book shows, would-be spelling reformers, including Benjamin Franklin and Theodo...
Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 9 June 2025
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a...
The Other Shoe - 2 June 2025
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So you think you can spell? Youngsters in modern spelling bees are expected to memorize a wide range of words, from chemical processes to names of rar...
Scooter Pooting (Rebroadcast) - 26 May 2025
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Bean Counting - 19 May 2025
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1920’s, Americans were warned of a new danger sweeping across the country. This menace that harmed people’s health, ruined minds, and threa...
Gold Dance (Rebroadcast) - 12 May 20256
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Honor Bright - 5 May 2025
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A baby’s first word is often a cherished milestone, but some cultures pay more attention to other firsts, like a baby’s first laugh. A fascinating...
By a Long Shot (Rebroadcast) - 28 April 2025
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We ...
Real Corker - 21 April 2025
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious t...
When Pigs Fly (Rebroadcast) - 14 April 2025
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Wi...
Cool Beans (Rebroadcast) - 7 April 2025
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 actuall...
A Cool Million - 31 March 2025
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So many books and so little time—it’s a challenge to choose what to read next! It helps to remember that so-called “reading mortality” is a fa...
Love Bites (Rebroadcast) - 24 March 2025
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Wicked Good - 17 March 2025
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
To grok something means “to understand it completely.” The word grok comes from a language spoken on the planet Mars—well, at least accordin...
Lasagna Hog (Rebroadcast) - 10 March 2025
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involveme...
Kiss the Cow (Rebroadcast) - 3 March 2025
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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.”...
Smack Dab - 24 February 2025
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Lead on Macduff (Rebroadcast) - 17 February 2025
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 wi...
Holy Toledo - 10 February 2025
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Tribble Trouble (Rebroadcast) - 3 February 2025
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 do...
Ring-Tailed Tooter (Rebroadcast) - 27 January 2025
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and follow your curiosity. Second, travel or learn a fore...
Potato Wagon - 20 January 2025
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thunderstorms might sound scary, but playful explanations for all those booms can help reassure little ones: How about the potato wagon’s rolling o...
What the Blazes (Rebroadcast) - 13 January 2025
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 n...
Mudlarking (Rebroadcast) - 6 January 2025
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks stroll the surface searching for objects that have fo...
Snaggletooth (Rebroadcast) - 30 December 2024
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Honkus Bonkus - 23 December 2024
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The phrase old as Methuselah describes someone quite advanced in years. In ancient scripture, Methuselah was a man who somehow lived to the ripe old...
Like a Boiled Owl (Rebroadcast) - 16 December 2024
16 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What’s it like to hike the Pacific Crest Trail all the way from Mexico to Canada? You’ll end up with sore muscles and blisters, and great stories ...
Price of Tea - 9 December 2024
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The words cushy, cheeky, and non-starter all began as Britishisms, then hopped across the pond to the United States. A new book examines what happ...
Your Two Cents (Rebroadcast) - 2 December 2024
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Astronauts returning from space say they experience what’s called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our n...
Space Frogs - 25 November 2024
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have named some recently discovered species of tree frogs after characters from Star Trek. Why? Because of the boops and trills and other s...
Sock it to Me (Rebroadcast) - 18 November 2024
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new boo...
Cut the Mustard - 11 November 2024
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do people who work together sound alike? Yes! Over time, they may begin to develop similar patterns of speech, or what might be called an “occupatio...
Good Vibrations (Rebroadcast) - 4 November 2024
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece ...
Kitten Britches - 28 October 2024
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How and why do words from one language find their way into another? Vietnamese, for instance, includes lots of words borrowed or adapted from French. ...
Mystery Drawer (Rebroadcast) - 21 October 2024
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange ass...
Deviled Eggs (Rebroadcast) - 14 October 2024
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some TV commercials launch catchphrases that stick around long after the original ads. The exclamation Good stuff, Maynard! is still a compliment al...
Navel-Gazing (Rebroadcast) - 7 October 2024
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1971, when a new public library opened in Troy, Michigan, famous authors and artists were invited to write letters to the city’s youngest readers...
Midnight Oil - 30 September 2024
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What exactly is a planet? Controversy over this question led to Pluto’s redefinition, along with a brand-new English word. And: Some people now use ...
Yak Shaving (Rebroadcast) - 23 September 2024
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There was a time when William Shakespeare was just another little seven-year-old in school. Classes in his day were demanding — and all in Latin. A ...
Easy as Pie - 16 September 2024
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How hot is it? Well, poet Dylan Thomas found lots of memorable ways to describe a heat wave. In one letter to a friend, he wrote that it was so hot “...
Cabin Fever (Rebroadcast) - 9 September 2024
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The adjectives canine and feline refer to dogs and cats. But how does English address other groups of animals? Plus, cabin fever has been around...
Toad in the Hole - 2 September 2024
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An ambitious effort to install poetry in national parks around the United States features the work of beloved poets in beautiful spots. It’s a rem...
Singing Sand (Rebroadcast) - 26 August 2024
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means “money.” In the same way, cat beer isn’t alcoholic —...
Make a Beeline - 19 August 2024
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you make a beeline for something, you’re taking the shortest route possible. You’re also mimicking bee-havior! After a bee has visited enough f...
Baby's Breath (Rebroadcast) - 12 August 2024
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There’s a word for that: googleganger. Plus, the lang...
Pickled Peppers - 5 August 2024
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Names don’t always mean what you think they mean. Main Street in San Francisco is named after businessman Charles Main, and Snowflake, Arizona, hono...
Hog on Ice (Rebroadcast) - 29 July 2024
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One secret to writing well is . . . there is no secret! There's no substitute for simply sitting down day after day to practice the craft and learn fr...
Minor Planets - 22 July 2024
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are eight major planets, but more than a million minor ones, including asteroids. If you discover one, you get the honor of naming it. The Dict...
Goody Two-Shoes (Rebroadcast) - 15 July 2024
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous ...
Pinking Shears - 8 July 2024
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re distracted by trying to get the perfect photo at a wedding or fiddling with your camera during a solar eclipse, you’re missing out on ...
Baby Blues (Rebroadcast) - 1 July 2024
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, though, suffrage isn’t about “suffering.” It...
Sleeve Island - 24 June 2024
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Language from inside a monastery. A Benedictine monk in the Episcopal Church shares terms from his world: For example, corporate prayer refers to pr...
Walkie Talkie (Rebroadcast) - 17 June 2024
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most powerful words you’ll ever hear — and one of the most poignant — isn’t in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. T...
Tiger Tail (Rebroadcast) - 10 June 2024
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You may have a favorite word in English, but what about your favorite in another language? The Spanish term ojalá is especially handy for expressin...
Clever Clogs (Rebroadcast) - 3 June 2024
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ribbon fall. Gallery forest. You won’t find terms like these in most dictionaries, but they and hundreds like them are discussed by famous writers ...
Bug in Your Ear (Rebroadcast) - 27 May 2024
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is there something inherent in English that makes it the linguistic equivalent of the Borg, dominating and consuming other languages in its path? No, ...
The Black Dog (Rebroadcast) - 20 May 2024
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to ...
Animal Crackers - 13 May 2024
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Images of birds flutter inside lots of English words and phrases, from “nest egg” and “pecking order,” to proverbs from around the world—inc...
Beside Myself (Rebroadcast) - 6 May 2024
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new Downton Abbey movie is a luscious treat for fans of the public-television period piece, but how accurate is the script when it comes to the vo...
Skookum (Rebroadcast) - 29 April 2024
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
So you’ve long dreamed of writing fiction, but don’t know where to begin? There are lots of ways to get started — creative writing classes, loca...
Electric Soup - 22 April 2024
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When an international team of scientists traveled to a research station in Antarctica for six months, the language they all shared was English. After ...
Life of Riley (Rebroadcast) - 15 April 2024
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Unwrap the name of a candy bar, and you just might find a story inside. For instance, one chewy treat found in many a checkout lane is named after a f...
Blue Dolphin - 8 April 2024
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How can you kick the verbal habit of saying you know and um so many times in a sentence? For one thing, get comfortable with pauses. There’s no need...
Off the Turnip Truck (Rebroadcast) - 1 April 2024
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell sugge...
Gilded Age - 25 March 2024
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In her sumptuous new memoir, Jamaican writer Safiya Sinclair describes her escape from a difficult childhood ruled by her tyrannical father. For Sincl...
Loaded For Bear (Rebroadcast) - 18 March 2024
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One way to make your new business look trendy is to use two nouns separated by an ampersand, like Peach & Creature or Rainstorm & Egg or … just abou...
Bronx Cheer - 11 March 2024
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the best thing to say to someone who is grieving? Choosing the right words is far less important than just showing up. Also, a family from Ru...
Mrs. Astor's Horse (Rebroadcast) - 4 March 2024
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?” Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children’s joke book has lots of t...
Ghost Runner - 26 February 2024
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Japan, if you want to order a corndog, you ask for an Amerikan doggu (アメリカンドッグ). These types of coinages are called wasei-eigo , or...
At First Blush (Rebroadcast) - 19 February 2024
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Book recommendations and the art of apology. Martha and Grant share some good reads, including an opinionated romp through English grammar, a Spanish-...
Sweet Spot - 12 February 2024
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re in a book club, how do you decide what books to read? There are lots of different ways, depending on your group’s goals. And is it ever ...
Gift Horse (Rebroadcast) - 5 February 2024
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The edge of the Grand Canyon. A remote mountaintop. A medieval cathedral. Some places are so mystical you feel like you’re close to another dimensio...