What's YOUR choice for the Word of the Year for 2011? What word or phrase best sums up the ideas, events, and themes that speakers of English have been talking about? Grant shares some of his picks. And speaking of picks, why do football commentators seem to love the term pick-six? Also, great quotations from writers, the meaning of such Britishisms as cheeky and naff, the intentionally misspelled and mispronounced word defulgaty and a discussion of whether the term ladies is offensive. And does the insect called an earwig really crawl into people's ears at night?

Bah, Humblebrag! (Full Episode)

The words cushy, cheeky, and non-starter all began as Britishisms, then hopped across the pond to the United States. A new book examines what happens when British words and phrases migrate into American English. Also, if you speak a language besides English, how should you pronounce words and names from that language when you're currently speaking in English? And: in the 13th century, the verb to kench meant "to laugh loudly." Just saying it out loud is fun. So why not revive it? Plus: smarmy, devil strip, whifflement, katish, school butter, spider web vs. cobweb, aught vs. zero vs. 0, on the season, and earrings for an elephant. This episode ate and left no crumbs. http://waywordradio.org

A Way With Words

Price of Tea (Full Episode)

Quiz Guy John Chaneski's puzzle was inspired by the story of Reverend Archibald Spooner, who supposedly mixed up the initial sounds of words, getting tangled in such verbal missteps as "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride." For example, there's a phrase that means "to bring something abruptly to an end," but to the Reverend that phrase would suggest "a closed trial." What might that phrase be? http://waywordradio.org

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The phrase old as Methuselah describes someone quite advanced in years. In ancient scripture, Methuselah was a man who somehow lived to the ripe old age of 969. Plus, a heartwarming book for children tells the story of how a Puerto Rican family adapted their traditions to fit their new life in the Midwest. And if you say This ain't my first rodeo, it simply means you've seen it all before. Plus, barn find, scrumbunctious, neamhchinnte, got melon, a three-way puzzle, Old Edderd sayings, a childhood misunderstanding, and Your mother wears Army boots! http://waywordradio.org

Honkus Bonkus (Full Episode)

What if, instead of being an inanimate object, a dictionary were alive? That's the idea behind a lavishly illustrated new children's book called The Dictionary Story (Bookshop|Amazon) by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. http://waywordradio.org

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Grant recommends the children's book Dreams of Green: A Three Kings' Day Story (Bookshop|Amazon), about a girl and her family who move from Puerto Rico to Ohio and find ways to carry on their traditions. It's available in Spanish:  El Verde De Mis Sueños: Un Cuento De La Tradición De Los Tres Reyes Magos (Bookshop|Amazon)  (Bookshop|Amazon)
Also, the popular Maisie Dobbs series of 18 novels by Jaqueline Winspear follows the adventures of a young, working-class British woman who in 1929 becomes a private investigator (Bookshop|Amazon). http://waywordradio.org

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After our conversation about various names for a television remote control, a listener emailed to say that early remote controls produced an audible tone that activated the TV channel changer and volume, and whenever his dogs Lupe and Bubba stood up and shook themselves, the sound of the jangling tags on their collars changed the TV channels. http://waywordradio.org

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When she was a child, Chris from Santa Rosa, California, misunderstood the definition of the word vehicle--with amusing results. http://waywordradio.org

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Quiz Guy John Chaneski serves up a Common Bonds puzzle, in which the object is to guess the common idea in each of three things. For example, what's the one word that connects a grade on a report card, USDA inspected beef, and an incline? http://waywordradio.org

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Thunderstorms might sound scary, but playful explanations for all those booms can help reassure little ones: How about The potato wagon's rolling over the bridge? Or The angels are going bowling? Plus, if you just finished enjoying an audiobook, you might say you've read it, but a listener asks if there's a better word. And: towns with names that are three letters long--or less. They're fun to say, and super easy to spell! The town of Eek, Alaska, for example, is spelled E-E-K. Plus, the use of humming to mean "stinking," slashfic and shipping, woodshedding, ratcatcher, bib and tucker, a memoir that features recipes handed down through a Black Appalachian family, a "buzzling" puzzle or a puzzling "buzzle," and I had one of those, but the wheels came off. http://waywordradio.org

A Way with Words

Potato Wagon (Full Episode)

Quiz Guy John Chaneski's puzzle is all about substituting the letter B for a certain letter that falls between the letters O and Q. For example, if you're substituting the letter B for that particular letter, what would you call the skill that some drivers find difficult when it comes to inserting one's car between two others? http://waywordradio.org

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In 1944, an Italian scientist discovered a drug that he later named for his wife. His wife's name was Marguerite, but she went by Rita--which is why this now familiar drug is known as Ritalin. Plus, a poem about churning butter shows how a writer can draw astonishing beauty out of the most everyday of tasks. And the exclamation Holy Toledo! probably refers to a city thousands of miles from the one in Ohio. Also: anapodoton, white sepulchre, why various languages have different words for with, a heart-healthy quiz, naming litters of puppies, No siree Bob!, nuthouse and nutty, Deadpool and death pool, coagulated sunlight, and I feel like I'm going to hell on a scholarship. http://waywordradio.org

Holy Toledo (Full Episode)

Quiz Guy John Chaneski doctor told him that in addition to adding more whole grains and vegetables to his diet, he should also replace words in his vocabulary with healthier alternatives. For example, she'd prefer that he say That actor was really chewing the scenery. He's a real hummus! What's the word that he replaced with seasoned ground chickpeas? http://waywordradio.org

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A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what's the flash part of that word about? The earliest flashlights lit up only briefly before the batteries gave out. Also, if you're a Nervous Nellie, you're skittish and indecisive--both characteristics of an American politician who earned that nickname in the 1920s. And, rhinestone: The name of this sparkly fake gem has a history that involves a famous river in Europe. Plus, the many names for toilet paper rolls, pull a seam, a puzzle all about the word it, a blessing and a curse, hitten vs. hit, idea vs. ideal, shaving yak hair vs. shaving gnat hair, Daylo, knocking something galley-west, the evolving meaning of dab, and the role of cultural context in learning languages. All of which you should listen to right smack now. http://waywordradio.org

Smack Dab (Full Episode)

Michelle in Thorne Bay, Alaska, wonders why a skittish person may be called a Nervous Nellie. That term is associated with the nickname of politician Frank B. Kellogg, who was considered overly emotional and indecisive, but who also won the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize. The phrase Whoa, Nellie used to calm horses may have reinforced this term's use. http://waywordradio.org

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Rose in Edmonton, Kentucky, notes that many people in her area pronounce the word idea as if it were ideal. That's a common dialectal feature in the Southern United States, as well as Appalachia and the Mid-Atlantic. In parts of New England, idea may be pronounced as if it has a final R. These alternate pronunciations often become habitual partly because of the sounds made on either side of that final syllable, and also because they're easy to say. http://waywordradio.org

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Terry from Omaha, Nebraska, wonders why smack dab means "precisely in the middle." Long used in Appalachia and the American South to make a term more emphatic, smack also appears in such phrases as right smack now and smack jam and smack bang. In the 14th century, the word dab meant to "strike suddenly" or "peck at." While this sense of dab has softened, it's used in expressions with smack to create emphasis. http://waywordradio.org

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Following our conversation about words for TV remotes, a listener reports that his three-year-old son dubbed their device the emote control, which sounds like something we could all use from time to time. http://waywordradio.org

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The cardboard cylinder left after the last sheet of toilet tissue or wrapping paper comes off the roll has inspired families to make up a lot of names for the tube or the sounds you can make with it. These include oh-ah, oh-ah, drit-drit, dah-dah, hoo-hoo, and as a Las Vegas, Nevada, listener reports, barcha-barcha. http://waywordradio.org

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An old Irish curse goes: May the devil make a ladder of your backbones while picking apples in the garden of hell. If you'd rather offer someone a friendlier wish, try May angels bless your sleep with the smell of apple pies. http://waywordradio.org

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A flashlight doesn't flash. It provides a steady beam of light. So why is it called a flashlight?  The earliest versions lit up only briefly before the batteries gave out and required a recharge, so they were literally "flash lights."  Years later, in 1916, Eveready flashlight company held a nationwide contest to coin a new word for the new, improved version. The winning entry? Daylo. Obviously, Daylo didn't catch on. The old word, flashlight, stuck around in the United States, while in the United Kingdom, this illumination aid was called an electric torch or later, simply a torch. http://waywordradio.org

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The English word rhinestone is a loan translation of French caillou du Rhin, or literally “Rhine pebble,” because these sparkly fake gems were first cut from rock crystal found in the Rhine River. http://waywordradio.org

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Sigrin writes from Albany, New York, that she misheard our earlier conversation about the expression shaving yak hair meaning "performing a monotonous, tedious task." At first she thought we said shaving gnat hair, which she figures is an equally apt term for doing a thankless, boring task. http://waywordradio.org

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Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been thinking a lot about it--that is, how the presence or absence of the letters I-T can clue different words. Each of this puzzle's sentences suggests one word containing the letters I-T, and a second word that's formed when the it is removed. For example, what two words are clued that way by the following sentence? You could give them a tenth of your earnings, or just give them some doodad. http://waywordradio.org

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The saying Liar, liar pants on fire is part of a longer children's rhyme that's been around since 1841 or so. There are several different versions of what comes after the line Liar, liar, pants on fire, such as Hanging by a telephone wire / While you're there, cut your hair / And stick it down your underwear. A listener in Indianapolis, Indiana, reports finding other taglines, such as Stick your head in boiling water, and the milder Wash your face in dirty water. http://waywordradio.org

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All the individual segments from A Way with Words' season 2011-2012.

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All segments from all episodes of the 2008-2009 season of A Way with Words.

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Stephanie, a social worker in Tallahassee, Florida, talks with people all day long, and she's noticed that sometimes when she's talking to a client, that person starts silently mouthing Stephanie's words. This may be a form of echolalia, the repetition of someone else's vocalizations, or palialia, a language disorder involving the involuntary repetition of words, phrases, or syllables. It might also simply be a matter of mirroring the other person as the result of intense focus, or anticipating what they're going to say and how and when to respond. http://waywordradio.org

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Why do auctioneers talk so fast? Martha and Grant discuss the rapid-fire speech of auctioneers, and how it gets you to bid higher. Also, why so many books have ridiculously long titles, where you'd have sonker for dessert, and an appreciation of that children's classic, "The Phantom Tollbooth." Plus, "different from" vs. "different than," the origin of suss out, words that apparently entered English in 1937, and the many names for those little gray bugs that roll up into a ball. <a href="http://www.waywordradio.org/auctioneers">See the full show notes at A Way with Words</a>.

Why Do Auctioneers Talk So Fast? (full episode)

A Way with Words is a fun and funny public radio program about language examined through history, culture, and family. Its mission is to change the way you think about language. The program is heard by broadcast and podcast across the United States and around the world by more than a quarter-million listeners each week. It's produced by Wayword, Inc., a nonprofit whose mission is to promote lifelong learning, better human communication, and the value of a thing well-said or well-written. Call or write with your language questions at any time: (877) 929-9673 (toll-free in the US and Canada) or just email us: words@waywordradio.org.

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