A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Episodes
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...
Had the Radish (Rebroadcast) - 29 January 2024
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Your first name is very personal, but what if you don’t like it? For some people, changing their name works out great but for others it may create m...
Orange Pigs - 22 January 2024
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do you call a segment of an orange? These juicy pieces of fruit go by lots of different names, including section, wedge, and carpel. But they’r...
Abso-Bloomin-Lutely (Rebroadcast) - 15 January 2024
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The autocomplete function on your phone comes in handy, of course. But is it changing the way we write and how linguists study language? Also, suppose...
Niblings and Nieflings (Rebroadcast) - 8 January 2024
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How do actors bring Shakespeare’s lines to life so that modern audiences immediately understand the text? One way is to emphasize the names of peopl...
Book Moth - 1 January 2024
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you skip wearing underwear, you’re said to be going commando. This bit of slang originated during the Vietnam War, when U.S. commandos had compel...
Kite in a Phonebooth (Rebroadcast) - 25 December 2023
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stunt performers in movies have their own jargon for talking about their dangerous work. In New York City, the slang term brick means “cold,” and ...
Takes All Kinds - 18 December 2023
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Crossword puzzles are a marvelous mental workout. A delightful new book about them shares plenty of crossword lore and puzzle-solving tips. Also, perf...
Strawberry Moon (Rebroadcast) - 11 December 2023
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We asked for your thoughts about whether cursive writing should be taught in schools — and many of you replied with a resounding "Yes!" You said cur...
Highway Robbery - 4 December 2023
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Secret signals on the job: Waitresses at some 19th-century restaurants ensured speedy drink service by communicating with a non-verbal code. One serve...
Spill the Tea (Rebroadcast) - 27 November 2023
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If someone urges you to spill the tea, they probably don’t want you tipping over a hot beverage. Originally, the tea here was the letter T, as i...
Dirty Laundry (Rebroadcast) - 20 November 2023
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets...
Strong Coffee - 13 November 2023
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
During the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of volunteers helped crowdsource the Oxford English Dictionary. This venerable reference work ...
Keep Your Powder Dry (Rebroadcast) - 6 November 2023
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms — that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tu...
One-Armed Paper Hanger (Rebroadcast) - 30 October 2023
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The emotional appeal of handwriting and the emotional reveal of animal phrases. Should children be taught cursive writing in school, or is their time ...
Hair on Your Tongue (Rebroadcast) - 23 October 2023
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you speak both German and Spanish, you may find yourself reaching for a German word instead of a Spanish one, and vice versa. This puzzling experie...
Train of Thought (Rebroadcast) - 16 October 2023
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chances are you recognize the expressions Judgment Day and root of all evil as phrases from the Bible. There are many others, such as the powers...
Space Cadet (Rebroadcast) - 9 October 2023
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer...
Howling Fantods (Rebroadcast) - 2 October 2023
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing dr...
Pizza Bones - 25 September 2023
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If your last name is Cook or Smith, your ancestors probably worked in those professions. But what if your last name is Pope? Or Abbott? And if yo...
Bottled Sunshine (Rebroadcast) - 18 September 2023
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tea...
Endless Summer - 11 September 2023
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Surf’s up! When surfers describe the waves as going gangbusters, it’s a great time out on the water. But why that word? Plus, a thesaurus of flav...
Care Package (Rebroadcast) - 4 September 2023
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sending someone a care package shows you care, of course. But the first care packages were boxes of food and personal items for survivors of World W...
Cootie Shot (Rebroadcast) - 28 August 2023
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind! A new book of writing advice says a good sentence “imposes a logic on the world’s weirdness”...
Sticky Wicket - 21 August 2023
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is listening to an audiobook for a book club somehow “cheating”? Is there no substitute for engaging with the printed page, or do audiobooks adds ...
Ding Ding Man (Rebroadcast) - 14 August 2023
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classif...
Gleam in Your Eye - 7 August 2023
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A remarkable new documentary explores the world of amateur and professional mermaiding and the language bubbling up within it. Some mermaiding enthusi...
Take Tea for the Fever (Rebroadcast) - 31 July 2023
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Silence comes in lots of different forms. In fact, says writer Paul Goodman, there are several kinds: There's the noisy silence of "resentment and sel...
Alligator Mouth - 24 July 2023
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kinbank is a new database that illustrates the global diversity of family terms. English, for example, specifies sibling relationships with just one o...
Sun Dog (Rebroadcast) - 17 July 2023
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A clever pun can make the difference between a so-so phrase and a memorable one. The phrase “the last straw” refers to an old fable about too many...
High Jinks - 10 July 2023
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For many people, religion provides language and rituals for key milestones in life, from births to weddings to funerals. But what if you don’t ascri...
Oh For Cute (Rebroadcast) - 3 July 2023
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referred to a printing device used to produce l...
Coinkydink (Rebroadcast) - 26 June 2023
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes it’s a challenge to give a book a chance: How many pages should you read before deciding it’s not worth your time? There’s a new formu...
Spinning Cookies - 19 June 2023
19 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A book of photographs and essays by famous writers celebrates libraries — and the librarians who changed their lives. Plus cutting doughnuts, spin...
Up Your Alley (Rebroadcast) - 12 June 2023
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Book recommendations, including a collection of short stories inspired by dictionaries, and a techno-thriller for teens. Or, how about novels with an ...
Just Skylarking - 5 June 2023
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The art of the invitation can be tricky. An inviter’s idea of invitation may be taken by an invitee as merely mentioning an event while they’re ne...
Piping Hot (Rebroadcast) - 29 May 2023
29 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The game of baseball has alway inspired colorful commentary. Sometimes that means using familiar words in unfamiliar ways. The word stuff, for exampl...
Folding Money - 22 May 2023
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares mem...
Mimeographs and Dittos (Rebroadcast) - 15 May 2023
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so why didn’t we also adapt the...
Takes the Cake - 8 May 2023
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely depend...
Truth and Beauty (Rebroadcast) - 1 May 2023
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Malamute, kayak, and parka are just some of the words that have found their way into English from the language of indigenous people in northern cli...
Dessert Stomach (Rebroadcast) - 24 April 2023
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Funny cat videos and cute online photos inspire equally adorable slang terms we use to talk about them. • Also, when a salamander is not a salamande...
Blessing Box - 17 April 2023
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeway...
Cool Your Soup (Rebroadcast) - 10 April 2023
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
According to Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, it’s important to master the basics of writing, but there comes a time when you have to strike out on yo...
Cats and Dogs - 5 April 2023
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s cats and dogs, and a few other critters, too. Animals prowl around inside several English words, including sleuth, which was originally sleut...
Fair Dinkum - 3 April 2023
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A magnificent new book celebrates the richness and diversity of 450 years of written and spoken English in what is now the United States. It’s calle...
Put on the Dog (Rebroadcast) - 27 March 2023
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why isn’t “you’re welcome” the default response to “thank you” for everyone? Plus lies that kids tell, Philadelphia lawyer, cowbelly, s...
Excuse the Hogs (Rebroadcast) - 20 March 2023
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
By a Landslide - 13 March 2023
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do you transform ancient Chinese script for use in the modern age? English uses a keyboard with just 26 letters, but the first Chinese typewriter ...
All That and a Bag of Chips (Rebroadcast) - 6 March 2023
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 wou...
Big Dog - 27 February 2023
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re ever near a sundial, step closer and look for a message. Many sundials bear haunting, poetic inscriptions about the brevity of life. Plus,...
Familiar Strangers (Rebroadcast) - 20 February 2023
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
Hot Gossip - 13 February 2023
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, Joh...
Word Hoard (Rebroadcast) - 6 February 2023
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
In the Ballpark - 30 January 2023
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
You Talk Like a Sausage (Rebroadcast) - 23 January 2023
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Old College Try - 16 January 2023
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In just seconds, online text generators and chatbots can produce whole paragraphs of sophisticated prose. But what do advances in artificial intellige...
Pushing the Envelope (Rebroadcast) - 9 January 2023
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dra...
Primary Colors (Rebroadcast) - 2 January 2023
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 sp...
Deep-Fried Air (Rebroadcast) - 26 December 2022
28 Dec 2022
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 cycl...
Stub Your Toe - 19 December 2022
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences tha...
Big Bang - 12 December 2022
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
East Overshoe (Rebroadcast) - 5 December 2022
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ca...
Snookums and Snicklefritz - 28 November 2022
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A new book about how animals perceive their environment reveals immense worlds beyond our own. A bee can see ultraviolet light, catfish have taste bud...
Herd of Turtles (Rebroadcast) - 21 November 2022
21 Nov 2022
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 discove...
If Grandma Had Wheels - 14 November 2022
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and volunteer r...
Mittens in Moonlight (Rebroadcast) - 7 November 2022
07 Nov 2022
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 word. An...
Diamond Dust (Rebroadcast) - 31 October 2022
31 Oct 2022
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 poetic. ...
Sleepy Winks (Rebroadcast) - 24 October 2022
24 Oct 2022
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...
Touch Grass - 17 October 2022
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 —...
Made from Scratch (Rebroadcast) - 10 October 2022
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha's savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who ...
Salad Days (Rebroadcast) - 3 October 2022
03 Oct 2022
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 acceptance, s...
Funny Papers - 26 September 2022
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 gr...
Your Imaginary Boyfriend (Rebroadcast) - 19 September 2022
19 Sep 2022
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 g...
Go Bananas - 12 September 2022
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 reflec...
Beefed It (Rebroadcast) - 5 September 2022
05 Sep 2022
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 explaining ...
What in Tarnation - 29 August 2022
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 mo...
Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 22 August 2022
22 Aug 2022
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 YOYO ...
Blue Streak - 15 August 2022
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 coupl...
Mystery Date (Rebroadcast) - 8 August 2022
08 Aug 2022
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 F...
I Don't Have the Spoons - 1 August 2022
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 b...
Sour Pickle (Rebroadcast) - 25 July 2022
25 Jul 2022
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 Ridgeway...
Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 18 July 2022
18 Jul 2022
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 simi...
Excuse the Hogs - 11 July 2022
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Scooter Pooting (Rebroadcast) - 4 July 2022
04 Jul 2022
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 de...
All That and a Bag of Chips - 27 June 2022
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 wou...