The casual phrase good enough for who it’s for suggests that something wasn’t done perfectly, but was done well enough. This saying is not all that common, but it’s been around for at least a century. Similar expressions used in the construction industry include looks good from my house and good enough for government work. In Italian, one might describe something done in a slapdash manner as fatto con i pieri or “done with the feet.” A similarly reassuring phrase: It’ll never be seen on a galloping horse. http://waywordradio.org

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As we’ve noted, in California’s Orange County, to birdie means “to drink from a bottle without touching it with one’s lips.” Elsewhere this germ-avoidant act is also called airsipping, airing, baby birding. In parts of the UK, you might sky a drink or air it. You can also bluetooth a beverage. The French equivalent is boire en wifi or “to drink in wifi mode,” that is, “drink without direct contact.” http://waywordradio.org

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Katie in Tallahassee, Florida, saw a friend cooking with what she called a Scottish spurtle, a kitchen utensil that looks like a wooden dowel with a knob on the end, used to stir hot cereals and rice. Soon after, her husband saw an infomercial on YouTube for an Amish spurtle, which was also made of wood, but was flatter and slightly curved. What’s the origin of spurtle, and why does the same word apply to different kinds of utensils? In Scotland, a dowel-shaped spurtle is also called a thivel, a flat one is called a couthie spurtle. The origin of spurtle is unclear. It may be related to other “flat”-related words spatula and spade, but it might be formed by metathesis from an Old Norse word that also gives us sprit, meaning “stick,” as in the bowsprit of a boat. Serious Scottish spurtle fans gather each year for the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championship. http://waywordradio.org

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In the early 16th century, the word bully was a term of endearment, probably stemming from Dutch boel, meaning “lover.” Shakespeare used bully to mean “a fine fellow” or “good chap.” When President Theodore Roosevelt referred to the presidency as a bully pulpit, he meant that it was an excellent means for getting a message across. Over time, bully also went through a process of pejoration, developing the sense of a “blustering, swaggering fellow,” perhaps associated with bull the powerful animal, or bull as in “a man who protects a prostitute.” http://waywordradio.org

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Our conversation about using natural objects such as rocks, driftwood, or antlers, as decoration prompted a Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, beachcomber to suggest that like beachcombing, searching for such items in the woods might be described as forestcombing. http://waywordradio.org

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If a king sleeps on a king-size mattress and queen sleeps on a queen-sized mattress, what does a prince sleep on? This riddle--or its answer--may keep you up at night. http://waywordradio.org

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The now-extinct Tocharian languages were spoken in western China in the latter half of the first millennium CE. We have only fragments of written texts in these languages, but here's part of a Tocharian love poem that conveys emotions that echo across the centuries. It appears in Laura Spinney’s new book Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global (Bookshop|Amazon). http://waywordradio.org

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Science journalist Laura Spinney’s new book Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global (Bookshop|Amazon) shows how lots of languages as diverse as Hindi, Italian, and English all stem from a single prehistoric ancestral tongue. A basic word for the number "three," for example, is similar across several languages. For example, English three is cognate with Spanish tres, French trois, Russian tri, and Albanian tre, to name just a few. Similarly, the name Slav may have meant "the famous people." In early Middle Ages, after the Franks took Slavs captive, the name Slav became sclavus in the language of the Holy Roman Empire, Latin. It went on to become esclave in French, and then when the Normans moved into Britain, it morphed into English slave. But that original idea of slav meaning "fame" or “glory” lives on today in the Polish name Stanislaw, "he who's achieved fame,” and Slava Ukraini, “Glory to Ukraine.” http://waywordradio.org

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A retronym is a word coined to distinguish something new from an older, more generic version, such as electric guitar or clock radio. A couple of new retronyms are fine water, or “unprocessed water that reflects a region’s terroir” and water sommelier, a professional who procures and dispenses such water to a growing number of fine water enthusiasts. http://waywordradio.org

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Quiz Guy John Chaneski challenges you to unravel a mixed-up puzzle. Each clue contains an anagram of another word relevant to it. For example, in the sentence A rose garden grows deep in the heart of Texas, what word might be rearranged to form ar related word? http://waywordradio.org

Scherzo by:Franz Schubert

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