A Way with Words

New episode for our dyed-in-the-wool fans! https://waywordradio.org/dyed-in-the-wool/ No stickumpucky! Also: cheater’s proof, have vs. take vs. get a shower, on or off the schneid, Gedankenstrich, creasing, shucky beans, and lots more.

Lucky lucky white horse ding dong day, whatever I wish, bring me today — a new episode of A Way with Words! https://waywordradio.org/carpe-diem/ Admission is free, so pay at the door, pull up a chair, and sit on the floor.

Your "A Way with Words" hosts appeared on WGBH's "Curiosity Desk," where they explained the origin of expressions like "turn over a new leaf," "catch wind of something," and "old chestnut."

New episode! Bird names are wild, and so is music-based code-smuggling. https://waywordradio.org/secret-code/ It's not a bunch of bowl!

Our co-host Martha Barnette reads aloud “Cornbread,” a poem by Kentucky writer Silas House. It is thick with sensory memories of Appalachian cooking and family.

Love! Martha helps Reader's Digest with tennis language:

The most highly rated emoji used by antiquities curators, such as amphora 🏺, classical building 🏛️, and castle 🏰: 

Using forensic linguistics to examine the notes in the Nancy Guthrie case

Twenty years ago, two big, wonderful things happened to me.

Seems like everybody has a term for mutts! “Texas brown dogs,” “pavement specials,” “potcakes,” and lots more in this new episode of the radio show/podcast: https://waywordradio.org/apple-turnover/ Including a lovely poem by Kentucky writer Silas House.

Wordhunting: A “velocity marriage” is a scam in which someone rushes romance and marriage talk to get fast and/or early access to the victim's money. Source:

Wordhunting: “emotional support noise” is background TV, music, or radio that keeps you company without demanding attention. Source:

“Ifs and buts and candied nuts” is another way to respond to those who, unrealistically, posit scenarios beginning with "if" or "but." Listen here:

Scrabble's tile values were set in the 1930s. This study examines 172,835 words from a widely used Scrabble list and finds 11 letters whose scores mismatch their frequency, including H over B and C over U.

How should Wiktionary fit sign languages? This Diff essay looks at page titles, a possible “Sign” namespace, and the limits of text-only entries.

Wordhunting: "Scorigami" is a final score that has never happened before in a sport or league's history. Source:

“Eavesdropping” began with an “eavesdrip,” the gap around a house where rainwater fell away. Then the word shifted into “listening in,” as if one were lurking there.

Why outsiders should not tell Indigenous communities that language loss is “natural” or okay. https://endangeredlanguages.com/story/response-sometimes-its-ok-let-language-die In response to the book we discussed here:

What vocabulary did English learners learn most in 1953 and what do they learn now? Essential English-learning vocabulary has shifted, from “goat” to “despite.”

How does the brain build a sentence? Nature looks at neurons that fire in the split second before speech, as grammar, vocabulary, and meaning come together. Read more:

Why did Homer call Odysseus a man of "many turns"? Emily Wilson weighs the choices behind "polytropos" and what that word can mean for a person, a journey, and a poem. Read more:

We're wired for sound with a new episode: https://waywordradio.org/wired-for-sound/ Lots of fun weather terms like flisky, flobby, and Snovember, plus a fun time saying "esophagastroduodenoscopy," a look into ballicater, and lots more. No sojering!

Can AI crack lost languages? It can quickly spot patterns, but meaning still requires human hunches. A look at the promise and limits of deciphering Linear A and Etruscan:

Why did “zucchini” and “courgette” take hold in different places for the same vegetable? BBC America sorts out seven vegetables that differ in the U.S. and U.K.

Wordhunting: "Narcissism of small differences" refers to an attitude taken when people who have a lot in common fixate on tiny distinctions. Source:

What do “vibe” and “vibing” have to do with “good vibrations”? A lot, as it turns out, from spiritual ideas to youth slang:

Why would young people be called a “whippersnapper”? The word goes back to the 1600s, when young men would strut around snapping whips.

Have you seen “dilemna” with an N instead of “dilemma” without? The N spelling shows up in old print, and many people remember learning it with an N, even though dictionaries stick to “dilemma.”

Wordhunting: A "planet parade" or "parade of planets" is when three or more planets seem to line up in the sky. Source:

Where did “camp” and “campy” come from, referring to a type of exaggerated but low style or humor? We trace the words from gay culture to Susan Sontag’s “Notes on Camp,” with a possible French origin too.

The delightful website ”Scottish Words Illustrated” includes “curl-doddy,” a word for the “devil’s bit scabious,” a type of flowering plant, and for a few other round-headed flowers.

“You must be smelling yourself” means someone is getting too "full of themself," or has too high an opinion of themself. We dig into the phrase and its appearance in Isabel Wilkerson’s “The Warmth of Other Suns.” Listen: waywordradio.org/smelling-one...

A Dial essay on recording Pennsylvania Dutch for posterity is also a warm piece on an Amish family.

Referencing a 2018 call on "A Way with Words," the New York Times says "to google" information is old-fashioned. The younger set now says "search it up." Call: https://waywordradio.org/search-it-up/ Article:

Wordhunting: To “fumble the bag” means to mess up or miss a valuable chance, often involving money. Source:

If "hypo-" means "under," what is the "chondria" in "hypochondria"? A little Greek goes a long way here, from "hypodermic" to "hypothermia." Listen in:

Decode an alien language in the 90s-style “The Message from Deep Space” video game using math, science, and a dictionary you build. Peek at it here:

In some languages and cultures, the equivalents of “mama” and “papa” can be terms of endearment for kids, too.

New episode! https://waywordradio.org/mischief-night/ The night before Halloween, the phrase for "the real truth" in Argentina, a couple-three or more interesting linguistic gems and novelties. Listen and you'll get all the brownie points!

Why is Syracuse, N.Y., such a haven for legendary writers? In the frozen shadows of shuttered factories, icons like Toni Morrison, Raymond Carver, and David Foster Wallace created some of their greatest work.

Wordhunting: The Spanish national World Cup team's playing style is known as "tiki-taka," which involves quick passing and long stretches of possession. Source:

Why do some speakers say "milk" like "melk" and "eggs" like "aigs"? It's a North American pattern that has been around for at least a century. Learn more:

The new emoji coming to Unicode: A pickle! A monarch butterfly! A cracked smiley face?

That little button on top of a baseball cap has a word: “squatchee” or “squatcho.”

Wordhunting: “Plot bunnies” are story ideas that keep nudging a writer to put them on the page and that tend to proliferate. Discovered at:

Why does "I reckon" sound rustic in the U.S. but ordinary in the U.K.? Listen:

Like other languages, Spanish picks up new bits of other languages every place it lands, words like “apapacharse,” “resondrar,” and Quito’s “chuchaqui,” from where Kichwa and Spanish mingle.

Wordhunting: “Habit-stacking” means tying a desired new habit to one you already have, like adding language-learning flashcards to regular morning coffee drinking. Source:

Wordhunting: A "ruinous honor" is a gift or honor that turns costly, like an actual white elephant. Source:

A NYT piece looks at efforts to keep Louisiana French alive, including a homegrown software speech model trained on old recordings and interviews.