A baby's first word is often a cherished milestone, but some cultures pay more attention to other firsts, like a baby's first laugh. A fascinating new book by a linguist examines language at the beginning and the end of life. Plus, the expression "Murphy's Law" reflects the idea that "anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But is this term a slur against the Irish? And an old word for new life: the verb to whicken involves daylight hours growing longer in springtime. Also, breard, honour bright and honour bright, the long history of groceries, a brain teaser about Pig Latin, sea painter, give someone down the road, give someone down the banks, a different way to write AI, plurale tantem, and how to pronounce rhetoric. http://waywordradio.org

Honor Bright (Full Episode)

British broadcaster, comedian, and logophile Stephen Fry offers a helpful if tongue-in-cheek suggestion in his newsletter The Fry Corner: Let's all write AI, the shortened form of artificial intelligence, as Ai. Fry reasons that the upper-case I is too easily confused with L. "How," he asks, "does the great Pacino feel when he reads that Al is a threat to humanity?" http://waywordradio.org

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Carrie Ann and her cousin Danielle from Minneapolis, Minnesota, wonder about the pronunciation of the word rhetoric. Is the stress on the first syllable or the second? http://waywordradio.org

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Emily in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is married to a native Dutch speaker, who points out that they buy groceries in a store, so why doesn't grocery denote just one of those items and not the store where they're sold. Originally, the French word grosserie referred to "wholesale goods"; it's a relative of English gross, meaning "large" or "a large quantity." French grosserie eventually led to English grocer, "the seller of those goods." Later, grocery was applied the profession of selling such items. Three centuries later, grocery came to refer to the store itself, and in the early 20th century, people began using the word groceries to refer to the items being sold from a grocery. The word groceries is what's called a plurale tantem, which refers to words that exist mainly in the plural form, such as scissors, pants, and eyeglasses. http://waywordradio.org

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In parts of Appalachia, the expression give someone down the road means "to reprimand" someone or "tell someone to get lost." In Ireland, to give someone down the banks has a somewhat similar meaning, apparently referring to pushing that person into a peat bog. http://waywordradio.org

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Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers as Kiese Laymon, who includes it in his memoir about growing up Black in Mississippi, Heavy (Bookshop|Amazon).
The word's origin is unclear, although it might have evolved from stark naked. http://waywordradio.org

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A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning "come to life." Another word, breard, is an old term that means "the first shoots of a plant visible above the earth." Jones is also a big fan of the uplifting word respair. http://waywordradio.org

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The new book Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words (Bookshop|Amazon) by linguist Michael Erard is a deeply researched, often intensely personal exploration of the ways people communicate at both the beginning and end of life. http://waywordradio.org

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Acoustic Guitar E note

Our next guest should need little introduction. As one third of NorthSouth along with fellow producer/selectors Sam Bangura and Harry McCanna (aka Henry Hyde), this guy is no stranger to a party or two and you can be damn sure for that to resonate full throttle in our next edition.

Forget the current state of affairs at the moment, and let those toes tap in the sunshine to this groovy hour of sickness.

It brings us great pleasure to introduce Dale Mussington to the series.

Drifted Audio 009 | Dale Mussington

Please enjoy tuning by ear with these guitar notes.  Take your time when tuning and find a quiet room to do this.  Over time it will improve your musical state as your intuition for the guitar is enhanced.
Feel free to learn more at http://www.123guitartuner.com

Acoustic Guitar E note

guitar-tuner-notes

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