A Way with Words

Series produced by A Way with Words

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A Way with Words is a national, lively, hour-long public radio show about language, on the air since 1998. Author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett take listener calls about slang, grammar, old sayings, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, and speaking and writing well. There are no carriage fees.

Learn more about the show, its hosts, and its history, and read station and listener testimonials on the A Way with Words website.


220 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Old College Try (#1607)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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In just seconds, online text generators and chatbots can produce whole paragraphs of sophisticated prose. But what do advances in artificial intell...

Bought by WFAE, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio), KUAT, KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, WEKU and more


  • Added: Jan 09, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 19
Pushing the Envelope (#1591)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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Sure, there's winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dram...

Bought by KUAT, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio), WYAP, WNIN, WSLR and more


  • Added: Jan 02, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Primary Colors (#1590)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence still had to communicate about routine matters, from gardening to equipment repair. So they develope...

Bought by KUAT, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio), KTXK, KREV-LP, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Dec 26, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Deep-Fried Air (#1589)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about . . . eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious lif...

Bought by KUAT, KTSW 89.9, KTXK, WSLR, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Dec 19, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Stub Your Toe (#1606)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children's literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experiences th...

Bought by KUAT, KTSW 89.9, WYAP, WPCA-LP, WSLR and more


  • Added: Dec 12, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Big Bang (#1605)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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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, wh...

Bought by KUAT, KTSW 89.9, WPCA-LP, WYAP, WSLR and more


  • Added: Dec 05, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
East Overshoe (#1588)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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...

Bought by KUAT, KTSW 89.9, KREV-LP, WPCA-LP, RADIOLEX and more


  • Added: Nov 28, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Snookums and Snicklefritz (#1604)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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A new book about how animals perceive their environment reveals immense worlds beyond our own. A bee can see ultraviolet light, catfish have taste ...

Bought by KUAT, KTSW 89.9, KTXK, WPCA-LP, RADIOLEX and more


  • Added: Nov 21, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Herd of Turtles (#1587)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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...

Bought by KUAT, KREV-LP, KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, RADIOLEX, WYAP and more


  • Added: Nov 14, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 20
If Grandma Had Wheels (#1603)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
While compiling the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographer James Murray exchanged hundreds of letters a week with authors, advisors, and voluntee...

Bought by KUAT, KREV-LP, KTSW 89.9, RADIOLEX, WYAP and more


  • Added: Nov 07, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Mittens in Moonlight (#1586)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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....

Bought by KUAT, KREV-LP, KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, RADIOLEX, WYAP and more


  • Added: Oct 31, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 20
Diamond Dust (#1585)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs -- a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poetic...

Bought by KUAT, KTXK, WYAP, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio), WSLR and more


  • Added: Oct 24, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Sleepy Winks (#1584)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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 ...

Bought by KUAT, KTXK, WYAP, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio), WSLR and more


  • Added: Oct 17, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Touch Grass (#1602)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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 --...

Bought by KUAT, RADIOLEX, KTSW 89.9, WYAP, WSLR and more


  • Added: Oct 10, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Made from Scratch (#1583)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha's savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist w...

Bought by KUAT, RADIOLEX, WYAP, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio), KTSW 89.9 and more


  • Added: Oct 03, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Salad Days (#1582)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter" follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It's a place for finding acceptanc...

Bought by KUAT, RADIOLEX, KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, KTSW 89.9, WYAP and more


  • Added: Sep 26, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 19
Funny Papers (#1601)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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 g...

Bought by KUAT, RADIOLEX, WYAP, KTSW 89.9, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio) and more


  • Added: Sep 19, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Your Imaginary Boyfriend (#1581)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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 ban...

Bought by KUAT, RADIOLEX, KTSW 89.9, WSLR, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio) and more


  • Added: Sep 12, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Go Bananas (#1600)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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...

Bought by KUAT, RADIOLEX, WYAP, WSLR, KHOL (Jackson Hole Community Radio) and more


  • Added: Sep 05, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Beefed It (#1580)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
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 explaini...

Bought by KUAT, WSLR, RADIOLEX, WNIN, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Aug 29, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17

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