A Way with Words
Series produced by A Way with Words
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.
220 Pieces
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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 -- some pe...
- Added: Aug 24, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
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...
- Added: Aug 17, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a s...
- Added: Aug 03, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 19
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...
- Added: Jul 26, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
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...
- Added: Jul 19, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it's the young Mary Aning, who went on to become a famous 19...
Bought by KUAT, KTXK, KTSW 89.9, WYAP, KNVC Carson City Community Radio and more
- Added: Jul 12, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
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...
- Added: Jul 05, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, though, suffrage isn't about "suffering." It's fr...
- Added: Jun 28, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
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? W...
- Added: Jun 22, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
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. The ...
- Added: Jun 14, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
Don't move my cheese! It's a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. It comes from a popular 1990s business b...
- Added: Jun 08, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 15
You may have a favorite word in English, but what about your favorite in another language? The Spanish term ojala is especially handy for expressin...
- Added: Jun 01, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
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 actual...
- Added: May 24, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
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 ...
- Added: May 17, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
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...
- Added: May 10, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 17
The word "hipster" might seem recent, but it actually originated in the 1930s, and referred to jazz aficionados who were in the know about the best...
Bought by KUAT, KTXK, KTSW 89.9, WYAP, Tri States Public Radio and more
- Added: May 03, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 16
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you're understood and being insulted. "High involvemen...
- Added: Apr 27, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
Is there something inherent in English that makes it the linguistic equivalent of the Borg, dominating and consuming other languages in its path? N...
- Added: Apr 19, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
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." So...
- Added: Apr 12, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
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 ...
- Added: Apr 05, 2021
- Length: 54:00
- Purchases: 18
