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

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...

Gold Dance (Rebroadcast) - 20 June 2022

20 Jun 2022

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...

By a Long Shot (Rebroadcast) - 13 June 2022

13 Jun 2022

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 10 miles. Could you do it? We t...

Familiar Strangers - 6 June 2022

06 Jun 2022

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, ...

Word Hoard - 30 May 2022

30 May 2022

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 o...

When Pigs Fly (Rebroadcast) - 23 May 2022

23 May 2022

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) - 16 May 2022

16 May 2022

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...

You Talk Like a Sausage - 9 May 2022

09 May 2022

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...

Love Bites (Rebroadcast) - 2 May 2022

02 May 2022

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 ...

Pushing the Envelope - 25 April 2022

25 Apr 2022

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...

Lasagna Hog (Rebroadcast) - 18 April 2022

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involveme...

Primary Colors - 11 April 2022

11 Apr 2022

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...

Kiss the Cow (Rebroadcast) - 4 April 2022

04 Apr 2022

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.”...

Deep Fried Air - 28 March 2022

28 Mar 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...

No Cap, No Lie (Rebroadcast) - 21 March 2022

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We take our voices for granted, but it’s truly miraculous that we communicate complex thoughts simply by moving our mouths while exhaling. A fascina...