Youngsters want to know: What's the difference between barely and nearly, and what's so clean about a whistle, anyway? Plus, adults recount some misunderstandings from when they were knee-high to a grasshopper. Kids do come up with some surprisingly creative interpretations of words and phrases the rest of us take for granted! http://waywordradio.org

A Way with Words

Today I Learned (Full Episode)

Tracie in Madison, Wisconsin, shares her childhood misunderstanding about the town of Random, the place where she assumed that all sweepstakes winners were chosen. http://waywordradio.org

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Matt from Waukesha, Wisconsin, has been discussing the words barely and nearly with his 10-year-old son Simon. They know the two words are nearly alike, but how exactly? http://waywordradio.org

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John, a 10-year-old from Dallas, Texas, wonders why an unpredictable or uncontrollable person is called a loose cannon. http://waywordradio.org

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Fourteen-year-old Harry from Charlotte, Vermont, asks why we say something is clean as a whistle. Clean as a whistle refers not to a physical whistle, but to the purity of the sibilant sound. http://waywordradio.org

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A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child's letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten, makeshift bookmarks? Also: a "cumshaw artist" is the wily member of a military unit who knows the shortcuts of procuring something for all their buddies, whether it's food or a borrowed vehicle for the evening. Plus, a handy Russian saying translates as "The circus left, the clowns remain." Also, scroll the window down, case quarter, Johnny pump, getting on the binders, telltale sign, maximums vs. maxima, shm-reduplication, and a funny 19th-century saying about the local know-it-all. Wishing you many happy returns of the day! http://waywordradio.org

Mystery Date (Full Episode)

When Julia emigrated to New York City from the Dominican Republic, she noticed that her Jewish friends on Long Island often playfully altered words, repeating a word and adding an SHM sound, such as changing deserve to deserve, schmeserve and cool to cool, schmool. This addition of shm- or schm- to a word in this way is what linguists call shm-reduplication or echoic dismissive shm. This construction arose in 19th century Yiddish, where the rhyming dismissive term tata, shmatta employed the words for "father" and "old rag," and might be rendered in English father, shmather. Similarly, gelt, schmelt was used dismissively about money, suggesting money, shmoney. Another example is fancy-schmancy. A fancy-schmancy restaurant, suggesting it's a particularly high-toned establishment, often ostentatiously or pretentiously so. http://waywordradio.org

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Jennifer in Andrews, South Carolina, is curious about the term case quarter, meaning "a single 25-cent coin -- not two dimes and a nickel and not five nickels." It's heard mainly in South Carolina, particularly among African-Americans. The origin of case quarter isn't clear, although it's been suggested that it derives from French caisse, meaning "cash." It's also been suggested that it derives from slang for a British crown, caser, a coin worth five shillings. Caser, in turn, may have come from a Yiddish term, keser, meaning "crown." Or it could just be that all of the value of that particular amount of money is "encased" in a single coin. Case is applied to other denominations as well, as in case nickel, case dime, and case dollar, each being a single item. http://waywordradio.org

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Celia, from Spokane, Washington, is unhappy that fewer and fewer English speakers seem aware of the correct plurals of Latin and Greek words. She is bothered, for example, when someone refers to minimums rather than minima. Minima is a British usage, as is maxima, for the plural of maximum, rather than maximums. It's possible to carry such things too far, though. For example, agenda in Latin literally means "things that must be done," but we still speak of multiple agendas. Certain words from other languages become nativized in English, and Greek and Latin words that do retain their plurals tend to be in particular scientific fields. http://waywordradio.org

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Ten-year-old Alex, from Oceanside, California, wonders if a cat's flicking tail inspired the expression telltale sign, meaning "an indicator." The word is telltale, not its soundalike telltail. About 400 years ago, a telltale was a "tattler." Today a telltale on a sailboat is "a piece of ribbon or fabric that indicates a change in the wind," and Australians use the word telltale to denote "the rear indicator light on a motor vehicle." One memorable use of the term is in the title of Edgar Allan Poe chilling story, "The Tell-Tale Heart." http://waywordradio.org

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This week on "A Way with Words": When there's no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO -- "you're on your own" -- or CORN, for "Clean out your refrigerator night." Plus, when a barista hands you hot coffee in a paper cup, you may ask for a sleeve to put it in. The technical term for that cardboard ring is zarf -- but will you get a weird look if you ask for one? Finally, the ongoing search for an alternative to the term senior citizen. http://waywordradio.org

Forty-Eleven Zillion (Full Episode)

John, a Navy veteran in San Diego, California, shares some pranks played on new recruits. One 
involves sending a newbie to the boatswain's locker for ten yards of gig line. In military jargon, a gig line is the imaginary line from the middle of one's shirt that goes through the belt buckle and down along the flap of the trouser fly, which should all be lined up with precision. The other is to send someone to the boiler room to ask for a BT punch, which, the hapless errand runner soon discovers, is a solid punch on the arm from the boiler technician. http://waywordradio.org

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Roz Chast, a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, asked her followers on Instagram for their terms for informal fridge-foraging, and says she received more than 1700 responses, including California plate, spa plate, having weirds, eek, mustard with crackers, getcheroni, goblin meal, gishing, phumphering, peewadiddly, picky-poke, screamers, trash panda, rags and bottles, blackout bingo, miff muffer moof, anarchy kitchen, going feral, going Darwin, goo gots, oogle moogle, dirt night, ifits, and mousy-mousy. http://waywordradio.org

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One way to describe someone with a sour countenance: She looked like she was eating vinegar off a fork. http://waywordradio.org

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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 explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes a decision to do something, only to discover later that no one really wanted to do that thing in the first place? There's a term for that! Plus, the sounds we make when we're simply passing the time or waiting a few seconds for something to happen. It can sound like a "whoosh" or barely audible humming -- or even the theme from "Jeopardy!" Also, toe the line vs. tow the line, Dirty Gertie, One Mississippi vs. One Piccadilly, cardboard dog vs. rubber duck, sand-hundred, beefed it, a rhyming puzzle, and doofus. All that for just a buck three-eighty! http://waywordradio.org

Beefed It (Full Episode)

Erica in San Antonio, Texas, asks whether there's a term for the soft noises that people make with their mouths while waiting, such as humming or whooshing, to pass the time. Another example might be that animated Typewriter Guy on Sesame Street who rolls into the frame singing to himself: NOO noo noo noo noo noo noom. Or when you're waiting for someone to figure out a question and you reflexively hum the tune from the final round of the TV game show "Jeopardy!" If the wordless vocalization is meant to communicate something to someone -- say, assuring someone waiting on the other end of a phone line that you're still there -- it's known as phatic communication, which refers to the things we do and say that don't necessarily convey a literal meaning, but instead serve as a kind of social lubrication. http://waywordradio.org

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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 band goes by a name that means "Winter Street," and in Hawaii, a term for the Milky Way translates as "fish jumping in shadows." And: the history of naming rooms in a house. Some old houses have a room off the kitchen with only a sink and cabinets. It's not a kitchen, exactly -- but what's it called? Plus, the colorful flag of one European town features a visual pun on its name. It's a drawing of a hand holding a heart. All that, and head over teacups, humpty-twelve, lowdown, chockablock, overhaul, Desper't Ambrose, honyock, an imaginary boyfriend named Raoul, and so mad I could spit nickels. http://waywordradio.org

Your Imaginary Boyfriend (Full Episode)

A listener shares a story about the time his young granddaughter proudly showed off having  tied her shoes. He points out that her shoes are on the wrong feet, but the granddaughter takes it literally, with amusing results. http://waywordradio.org

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Deborah in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, remembers a phrase from her grandfather: Desperate Ambrose. He's so desperate he would steal a hot stove. The first part is a reference to Desper't Ambrose, a character in the comic strip "S'Matter Pop?," by cartoonist Charles Payne, which ran from about 1910 to 1940. The Lambiek Comiclopedia is a good resource for information about comic strips. The description of someone who would steal a hot stove goes back to the 1860s, and emphasizes the idea of someone being a thieving rascal. Playwright Wilson Mizner is credited with elaborating on that phrase, describing someone so desperate that they would steal a hot stove and come back for the smoke. http://waywordradio.org

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Bobbie in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, wonders about the expression What's the lowdown?, meaning "What's happening?" Lowdown, meaning "the skinny," "the scoop," or "the details" originated in the idea of something low-down being "dirty" or "naughty" or otherwise "close to the ground." When it was first used to mean "information," the implication was that the information itself was base, or that the act of sharing the information was naughty. http://waywordradio.org

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A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter" follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It's a place for finding acceptance, support, and confidence for navigating the larger world. And: "The High Priestess of Soul," Nina Simone, was one of the most beguiling performers of all time. A beautiful new picture book for children tells her inspiring story. Plus: burritos! Why do those savory stuffed tortillas have a name that literally translates as . . . "little donkey"? Also, gobble hole, live catch, and other pinball jargon, salad days, a take-off puzzle, devious licks, gumshoe, plat, pencil colors, and Not today, Josephine! http://waywordradio.org

Salad Days (Full Episode)

Listeners continue to weigh in on the topic of what to call those impromptu, free-for-all dinners at home where everyone just cobbles together their own dish with whatever leftovers or ingredients are handy. Frances writes from Bluffton, South Carolina, with her mother's sophisticated-sounding name for those assorted leftovers: Cream of Frigidaire. http://waywordradio.org

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Our conversation about women who use the nicknames Gertie or Gert as jokingly affectionate terms for each other, prompted a listener in Melbourne, Australia, to speculate that it's a nod to Gertrude Lawrence, an English performer who rose to international fame in the early 20th century. Another possibility, though, is the character of Gertrude the telephone operator on The Jack Benny Program, a radio show in the United States that was wildly popular and ran for more than 30 years. Gertrude's character is heard talking with her fellow operator Mabel in this episode starting at 22:30. http://waywordradio.org

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Quincy from Bozeman, Montana, wonders how burritos came to be named with a Spanish word that means "little donkey." In Spanish, the meaning of burro has also extended from "donkey" to "sawhorse." In the case of the tortilla-wrapped comfort food, there are several possible explanations, although the most likely appears to be the resemblance between a tortilla draped over multiple ingredients and a blanket thrown across the back of a donkey, which also bears a heavy load of items. The Dictionary of Chicano Folklore (Bookshop|Amazon) suggests another possibility: burritos were a valued companion for vaqueros out on the trail, somewhat like the way burros are valuable companions for horses, because their presence tends to calm those potentially jittery animals. http://waywordradio.org

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Paul in Camden, Maine, has adopted a new pup, and the dog's exuberant face-licking has Paul wondering about the many meanings of the word lick, which include getting his licks in and takes a licking, which refers to the act of forcefully beating someone or something. With roots that stretch back more than a thousand years to Old English liccian, meaning "to pass the tongue lightly over a surface," lick has come to mean a variety of things, including "a small amount" and "to vanquish." More recently, some youngsters are boasting about devious licks, stealing items from school and showing them off on TikTok. Lick is a great example of polysemy, the capacity for a word or phrase to have more than one meaning. http://waywordradio.org

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Paige grew up in Louisiana, where she used the term pencil colors for colored pencils. Her name for these drawing instruments is likely a calque from French crayon de couleur, literally "pencil of color." In many small towns across the United States, school districts traditionally published in the newspaper lists of supplies that students needed to purchase for the coming year. Newspapers in Louisiana and parts of Mississippi from the 1960s well into the 2000s often included the term pencil colors in those student supply lists. http://waywordradio.org

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A North Carolina listener says that when he was a boy and asked for something at a store that his father didn't want to buy, his dad would reply Not today, Josephine. The origins of this phrase are unclear, although there is a story that it refers to Napoleon Bonaparte, who couldn't keep up with his wife's sexual voracity, and supposedly had to keep refusing her with Not tonight, Josephine. The story may well be apocryphal, however. http://waywordradio.org

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Kaitlyn from Rye, New York, is puzzled by people referring to their youth as their salad days. It's drawn from a metaphor employed at the end of Act One of Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare. Cleopatra recalls a past dalliance with Julius Caesar, and says it occurred when she was "green in judgment, cold in blood," much like a salad would be fresh and green. http://waywordradio.org

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Why are detectives in old movies and mystery novels called gumshoes? The term gumshoe derives from the image of shoes with soles made of gum rubber, which offered an improvement over the wood traditionally used for the bottom of a shoe, since those rubbery soles allow the wearer to tiptoe quietly without being detected. Gumshoe has been applied to investigators and police officers for more than a century, although it's also been applied to prowlers and others who resort to stealth for accomplishing nefarious goals. http://waywordradio.org

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Dan from Atlantic Beach, Florida, grew up in southwestern Ohio, where he and his friends and family referred to their neighborhoods as plats, as in What plat do you live in? To plat a place is jargon for the process of making a detailed map with key features of the area. A plat is a piece of land for which plans are being made. Plat is a variant of the English word plot. http://waywordradio.org

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A native Dutch speaker who spent many years in Japan says he had to learn the hard way that when Americans greeted him with How are you?, they didn't really want to know how he was. Such casual greetings that don't require a factual or detailed answer are an example of phatic speech, a term coined by linguist Walter Redfern. It's speech that's less about literal meaning and more about social function and politeness. http://waywordradio.org

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What the fox says may be a mystery, but we do know that dogs bark differently around the world. In China, for example, they say not bow-wow but wang wang.  Also, the story behind the British tradition of scrumping. It's not a middle school dance craze, and it has nothing to do with beer -- or does it? Plus, recipe vs. receipt, mash vs. press, housing a beer, all bollixed up, and empty heads make weary bones.

Wet Brick (full episode)

If an older man and woman spend lots of time together, going to family gatherings and the like, but they're NOT dating, what do you call their relationship? Best friends? Dear friends? Or . . . something else? And a marathon runner who's crossed 31 states on foot talks about the odd phrases people use when giving directions. Plus, handegg, victuals and vittles, nernees and farsees, take a decision vs. make a decision, and the growing popularity of text tattoos.

Not Quite A Boyfriend (full episode)

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 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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The highly specialized vocabulary of people who work outdoors, like farmers and fishermen, can bring us closer to the natural world. Also, a woman who trains sled dogs discusses the words she uses to communicate with her animals. You may be surprised to hear that "Mush!" is not one of them! Finally, if you're getting ready to go rock climbing, you'll first want the beta--a word with roots in the technology of video recording. Plus church key, browse line, smeuse, nitnoy, mommick, zawn, zwer, boom dog, and I think my pig is whistling. http://waywordradio.org

Gee and Haw (Full Episode)

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

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In Hungarian, there's a whole genre of silly jokes that have to do with an agresiv kismalat, or "aggressive piglet." Each joke ends with an absurd punchline screamed obnoxiously. There are collections of these jokes online, as well as brief aggressive piglet animated cartoons that don't require much translation. These absurd jokes are reminiscent of German Antiwitze, or "anti-jokes," which we've discussed before. http://waywordradio.org

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John, a 10-year-old from Dallas, Texas, wonders why an unpredictable or uncontrollable person can be referred to as a loose cannon. http://waywordradio.org

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A pint-sized mad scientist, a green-haired girl with a contagious sense of wonder, and a 10-year-old detective. They're all characters in the books on Grant's latest list of recommended books for children. Also, what's the word for a female octopus? How about a male kangaroo? A colorful book for younger kids has those answers and more. And the debate over "on accident" versus "by accident": Which one you use probably depends on how old you are. Plus, if you hop on a merry-go-round, are you moving clockwise or counterclockwise? The answer depends on which side of the pond you're on.

Ride the Merry-Go-Round (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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