A Nevada high-schooler wonders about the slang terms cap meaning "to lie" and no cap, meaning I'm not lying  Many people associate it with the Future & Young Thug song "No Cap." Actually, the expression goes back to the 1500s, when you might cap an anecdote, quotation, or verse as part of a verbal jousting game. By the 1800s, capping was a way of competing by telling a better joke than someone else, and by the 1940s, Black Americans were using the verb to cap when trading ever more exaggerated insults, otherwise known as the dozens or the dirty dozens. In that way, capping became a synonym for "stretching the truth." http://waywordradio.org

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Galen in White River, Arizona, asks: Is there really a "neutral" accent, and if so, what is it? http://waywordradio.org

1613-Caller-Galen-Nuetral-Accent

The SAT is changing things up, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just because words like membranous are no longer in the verbal section doesn't mean kids aren't learning important vocabulary. And speaking of useful terms, shouldn't we have an English word for "the parents of your child's spouse"? Actually, there is one. And if your daughter gets divorced, should she call her former husband her . . .  wasband? Plus, Sheboyganisms like fry out and hot tamales, please find attached and other e-mail language, the two meanings of inertia, Z-plurals, and mispronounced words. http://waywordradio.org

Hard Words Are Hard (full episode)

Meg says that when she was growing up near Boston, Massachusetts, her dad used to entertain kids with a phrase that sounded like Ish biddly oten doten bobo ba deeten dotten wanotten shhhhh! That's most likely adapted from a camp song from the 1950s called "Flee Fly Flo" that has lots of different versions, is also called "Flea Fly Flo," and may have roots in scat singing. Parts of the song have shown up in other songs, such as Chubby Checker's 1964 song "Cu Ma La Be Stay." The 1944 movie National Barn Dance featured the song "Down Home Rag (Deeten Dotten Dooten)," which includes some similar-sounding nonsense lyrics. http://waywordradio.org

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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)

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks (Bookshop|Amazon) is about the foodways and folkways passed down through five generations of a Black Appalachian family. The book, by novelist and poet Crystal Wilkinson, is part memoir, part cookbook, and thoroughly delicious. http://waywordradio.org

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Why is it harder to talk if we don’t move our hands? Even when we’re talking on the phone we feel the need to gesture to aid communication. A new book offers a look at the relatively new field of gesture studies. And: Ever wonder why we describe the American flag as “red, white, and blue?” Why not “blue, white, and red?” Plus, everyone should have a hellbox for tossing their discards! But where exactly would you find one? Also: a tall glass of water, since dirt was young, since King Hatchet was a hammer, since Hector was a pup, a brain teaser about multiple letters, sold down the river, an alliterative drinking game, upper-case vs. lower-case, why we say red, white, and blue and not blue, white, and red, and how to pronounce pecan. http://waywordradio.org

Tall Drink of Water (Full Episode)

The new book Gesture: A Slim Guide (Bookshop|Amazon) by linguist Lauren Gawne includes some fascinating studies about the movements that accompany spoken or signed language. In one, participants were asked to learn rules of a game, then explain those rules to someone else they were going to play the game with, either a teammate or competitor. Each time the people giving the instructions used pretty much the same words, and made about the same number of gestures. The key difference? Their gestures were smaller when explaining the rules to a potential opponent, suggesting they didn’t want to be as clear or emphatic. http://waywordradio.org

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Why is it harder to talk if we don't gesture? Why do we still move our hands if we're talking on the phone but the other person can't see us? Such questions are tackled in the new book Gesture: A Slim Guide (Bookshop|Amazon), a sort of survey course of the state of gesture studies. The author, linguist Lauren Gawne of Latrobe University in Melbourne, Australia, is also cohost, along with internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch, of the Lingthusiasm podcast, an entertaining, informative show that all about, as they put it, “what’s neat about linguistics.” http://waywordradio.org

1663-Lex-Bag-A-Slim-Guide-Continued

Quiz Guy John Chaneski calls this week’s puzzle “Three of a Kind, Four of a Kind,” but it has nothing to do with cards. The challenge is to find words that have either three occurrences of a letter or four. For example, if the letter in question is B, what’s a word that has three instances of it, and what’s one that has four? Hint: One of them denotes something that doesn’t stop until it pops, and the other appears in the song “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” http://waywordradio.org

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If you like to use emojis, you have some 3800 to choose from—and the organization that approves them is about to announce even more. But do we really need a purple splatter emoji? Or one that looks like Sasquatch? Plus: If you’re retired, you may jokingly call yourself a “geezer.” In the UK, though, the term is downright derogatory. Also, why good eggs make much better company than bad apples. And how to pronounce macabre, the difference between mass nouns and count nouns, an Italian phrase about foolishness, alight from the front, Japanese pager slang, a brain teaser for bookworms, vermilion, crimson, carmine, and cochineal, and You thought like Nelly. http://waywordradio.org

Good Egg, Bad Apple (Full Episode)

Communicating by text often involves those colorful symbols called emoji, those cartoon-like images of everything from smiley faces to sushi. As of Summer 2025, there were some 3800 of them, and every few months, the Unicode Consortium adds even more. http://waywordradio.org

1664-Intro-Emoji

In Japanese, the word san (さん) means “three” and kyuu (きゅう) means “nine.” Said together, the words sound like English “thank you,” so back in the 1990s, when pagers were all the rage among Japanese teens, typing 999 was a quick way to punningly thank someone. http://waywordradio.org

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Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been busy writing sequels to famous novels inspired by changing the tense of verbs in their titles. For example, what might be his new iteration of a classic Gabriel García Márquez tale about two romantic youths who became enamored in Colombia during the turn of the last century? http://waywordradio.org

1664-Word-Quiz-Novel-Sequels

How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A Massachusetts woman complains that a digital highway sign that says Use Ya Blinkah is well-intentioned, but goes too far in making fun of the local dialect. Plus, if you’re puzzling over something--no problem. Just use your Clyde! Also, squatcho and squatchee, wuzzle and fuzzle, juke and jook, gnurr and oosse, the millennial pause and the Gen Z shake, eye dialect, an adverbial brain teaser, the Coanda effect, how to ask for rooiboos tea, and a clever neologism that means “dread.” http://waywordradio.org

Cat Bristle (Full Episode)

An engineer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, says he and his colleagues refer to tangled underwater cables as wuzzles. Does anyone else? At least as early as the mid-19th century, the verb wuzzle has meant “to jumble” or “to put in a state of confusion.” By extension, it also means “to intoxicate” or “muddle,” as does the obsolete word fuzzle. http://waywordradio.org

1665-Caller-Carl-Wuzzles

The so-called “lifestyle influencer accent” you hear in videos on TikTok and YouTube, where someone speaks with rising tones at the end of sentences and phrases, suggesting that they’re about to say something important, is a form of what linguists call floor-holding. The term millennial pause has been used to describe the habit of older users of social media to check to make sure their camera is actually in place and rolling before they speak. In contrast, the Gen Z shake, or jittery movement at the start of a video, supposedly conveys authenticity and spontaneity, and also helps grab and keep a viewer’s attention. http://waywordradio.org

1665-Intro-Lifestyle-Influencer-Accent

Besides the Use Ya Blinkah roadside sign seen in Massachusetts, seasonal messages on digital highway signs have included the Halloween-themed Hocus Pocus--Drive with Focus and the Fourth of July admonition Don’t Drive Star-Spangled Hammered. The U.S. federal government now discourages the use of such highway punnery, declaring that they are too distracting and unclear. http://waywordradio.org

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Quiz Guy John Chaneski has been pondering the -ly often found at the of adverbs, and that inspired him to craft a puzzle about  words that seem to be adverbs, but aren’t. For example, what fake adverb is suggested by this clue: Like a sudden charge against an enemy, it does it like actor Mineo or baseballer Bando. http://waywordradio.org

1665-Word-Quiz-Fake-Adverbs

Why would some Spanish speakers use adaptations of certain English words when perfectly good Spanish words for the same thing already exists? Plus, handy terms in a dictionary of the Sussex dialect from 150 years ago: Back then, a “dezzick” was “a day’s work” and “January butter” was another term for “mud.” And: You can’t judge a book by its cover, but the outer sides of its pages may impress you. A new trend in publishing features colorful patterns and images that look gorgeous when the book is closed. These decorations are called spredges, from the words “sprayed” and “edges.” Also: brass tacks, beevers, a punning puzzle for cinephiles, shmutzing, lonche, go chalk, archaic names for ladybugs, close-toe vs. close-toed vs. closed-toe, denominalization, mucksig, and God Almighty’s cow. http://waywordradio.org

Brass Tacks (Full Episode)

An 1875 dictionary of the Sussex dialect from southeastern England gives a colorful glimpse of life there in those days. A beever is “an 11 o’clock luncheon.” In parts of Sussex, a ladybug is variously known as a Bishop Barnaby, a fly-golding, or God Almighty's cow. http://waywordradio.org

1666-Intro-Sussex-Dialect-Dictionary

Grace in Abilene, Texas, says her grandmother, who was of German descent, would tell children to stop sulking or pouting with a word that sounded to Grace like “mooksie.” Her grandmother was probably using a form of the German dialectal terms mucksig or mucksch, which describe someone “sullen,” “sulking,” “moody,” or “defiant,” and are related to the verb muckschen meaning “to fuss.” In German, a child who is mucksig might express it with a pouty, protruding lower lip, which goes by the fanciful name Schippchen, literally “little shovel.” http://waywordradio.org

1666-Caller-Grace-Mooksie

When describing shoes, which is correct: close-toe, close-toed, or closed-toe? And what about forms of footwear that leave those pedal digits exposed? Open-toe shoes? Open-toed shoes? http://waywordradio.org

1666-Caller-Chris-Closed-Toe-Shoes

Alisa from Memphis, Tennessee, shares a story about her mother emerging from sedation after a significant head injury. Her mom’s first words were Let’s get down to brass tacks. The phrase means “Let’s get to the point” or “Let’s get down to business,” but where did it originate? Word historian Pascal Tréguer notes on his website Word Histories that an earlier version of the phrase was to come right down to the brass, which referred to the brass studs on coffins—in other words, to come right down to the essentials, or to a point as fundamental as the finality of death. http://waywordradio.org

1666-Caller-Alisa-Brass-Tacks

The Hawaiian word “aloha” is both a greeting and a goodbye, as well as a profound acknowledgement of the oneness with all living things. Plus, what’s a “lemur ball”? That’s the cute little cuddle formed when several of these ring-tailed primates cozy up to each other. A new book will leave you marveling over the mysteries of lemurs, wombats, and other creatures. And: If you’re exhausted after a long day, and you get tired of saying you’re tired, you can always say you’re “forswunk.” Also, sweating buckets, sudar como un pollo, a game featuring imaginary national anthems, fair to middling, sirop de poteau, Se cree la mamá de Tarzán, dilly-dally, cackermander, jassum, swink, skunked, and a 5-year-old’s hilarious misunderstanding. http://waywordradio.org

Big as a Breadbox (Full Episode)

The English language has a variety of expressions referring to the excretion of moisture from the skin due to heat. There’s the verb perspire and the Yiddish borrowing schvitz. If you perspire profusely, you may sweat buckets, or be sweating like a sinner in church. The Spanish idiom  sudar como un pollo means “to sweat like a chicken,” a reference to juices exuding from a bird as it roasts. One Dutch idiom translates as “sweating like an otter,” and another as “I’m sweating little carrots,” possibly because the Dutch word for “little carrots,” peentjes, sounds a lot like Dutch for “pints.” http://waywordradio.org

1667-Intro-Sweat-Expressions

Martha shares a funny story about her 5-year-old great-niece, who misunderstood the name of her adopted home state, California. Then again, Unicornia does have a nice ring to it. http://waywordradio.org

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Does language acquisition correspond with being ambidextrous? A woman notices her polyglot husband takes notes with his right hand for certain languages, then switches to his left for other ones. And: What's the difference between an orchard and a grove? Is it correct to speak of an apple grove or an orange orchard? Also, some fun slang from Newfoundland: Sit too long on a hard seat, and your badonkadonk will wind up “dunch.” Plus: duckish, woo-woo, a puzzle about werewolves, waxing eloquent about whiskey, muldoon, names coined by famous authors, huerta and horticulture, zerbert, and a hundred feet of chow line. http://waywordradio.org

Chow Line (Full Episode)

What’s the difference between a grove and an orchard? Every orchard is a grove, but not every grove is an orchard. Can you speak of an apple grove or an orange orchard? Yes, although it’s far more common to say apple orchard and orange grove. The word orchard, by the way, may derive from Latin hortus, meaning “garden,” the source of horticulture and the Spanish word for “garden,” huerta. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Caller-Jeremy-Orchard-Vs-Grove

A woman whose husband speaks Guarani, Spanish, German, English, Italian, plus a bit of liturgical Hebrew notices a curious thing happening while he was taking notes during lessons with a rabbi. As he jotted notes in Spanish and Guarani, he used his left hand, but whenever he took notes in English or Hebrew, he switched to his right. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Caller-Kristen-Multilingual-Abilities

Liam from San Francisco, California, is wondering about woo-woo. How did this term come to be an adjective describing beliefs or practices considered unscientific or irrational? Woo-woo likely imitates otherworldly sounds or ghostly moans. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Caller-Liam-Woo-Woo

A listener reports that in and around his hometown of Le Mars, Iowa, the kind of loose-meat  sandwich that others might call a sloppy joe is known as a Tavern or a Tavern sandwich, a name that likely goes back to a restaurant in nearby Sioux City called Ye Olde Tavern. Other names for such sandwiches include Maid-Rite, Big T, Charlie Boy, and Tastee. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Caller-Mike-Tavern-Sandwich

In Newfoundland the word bridge, also spelled brudge, can mean “a deck” or “a porch,” while the word porch refers to an additional room, usually attached at the back of a house, and used as a storage space or  mud room. If a Newfoundlander says it’s duckish out, they’re indicating the skies are dark.. The three daily meals are breakfast, midday dinner,  and evening supper, while any snack outside these is referred to as a lunch, and a bed lunch is a snack eaten just before bed. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Intro-Newfoundland-Language

What’s the common bond that links the names Vanessa, Cedric, and Pamela? They’re all names coined by famous authors. Vanessa was invented by Jonathan Swift as a pet name for his lover Esther Van Homrigh.The 16th-century poet Sir Phillp Sidney coined the name Pamela for his pastoral romance, “Arcadia,” possibly from a combination of Greek words meaning “all honey.” And Sir Walter Scott, in his novel Ivanhoe, introduced the character of Cedric the Saxon—either a misunderstanding or an alteration of the much older Anglo-Saxon name Cerdic. http://waywordradio.org

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A woman from Newfoundland notes that in her part of the world, dunch denotes numbness caused by a limited blood circulation, as in how one’s rear end feels after sitting too long. Dumplings made with only flour and water or bread that is heavy or soggy can also be described as dunch. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Newfoundland-Dunch

Oenophiles are known for their evocative writing about wine, but that’s also true for sophisticated bourbon lovers. Some sensuous tasting notes from bourbon expert Susan Reigler from American Whiskey magazine serve as a case in point. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Whiskey-Language

Someone bitten by a werewolf becomes a werewolf, but what does a werewolf bitten by a nurse practitioner become? In Quiz Guy John Chaneski's punny puzzle, the first syllable of each answer to a question like this rhymes with the were- in werewolf. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Word-Quiz-Rhymes-With-Were

One means of hazing newbies in the Army: send them to get a hundred feet of chow line. http://waywordradio.org

1668-Hundred-Feet-Of-Chow-Line

A belly flower is a small low-growing flower you have to get down on the ground to see. http://waywordradio.org

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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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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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