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

1650-Lex-Bag-Praisesong-For-The-Kitchen-Ghosts

If you start the phrase When in Rome . . . but don't finish the sentence with do as the Romans do, or say Birds of a feather . . . without adding flock together, you're engaging in anapodoton, a term of rhetoric that refers to the act of saying only the first part of a proverb or common saying, because you assume your listener will mentally finish the rest. Anapodoton comes from the Greek word anapodosis, meaning "without a main clause." Anapodota appear in many languages besides English, including Japanese and Chinese. http://waywordradio.org

1651-Intro-Anapodoton

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

1656-Lex-Bag-Bye-Bye-I-Love-You

Ray, a teacher at a bilingual elementary school near Dallas, Texas, shares the Spanish term his family uses for gossiping after a party: saca garra. Spanish garra means "claw" or "talon," and sacar la garra is used on either side of the Texas-Mexico border meaning "to gossip," or literally, "to take out one's claws." In Mexican Spanish, garra can mean either "claw" or "old clothes," so it's possible there's also a pun involving the idea of metaphorically "airing dirty laundry." http://waywordradio.org

1658-Caller-Ray-Saca-Garra

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

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 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

1667-Unicornia

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)

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

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

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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

Whippoorwills, bob whites, and chickadees. How do we decide the names of birds and what to call their calls? Plus, the last syllables of Arkansas and Kansas are pronounced differently, but they come from the same etymological root. And: What’s the best word to describe your relationship with someone who’s less than a friend but closer than an acquaintance. Is that person one of your friendlies? Also, knobbly monster, cuate, to have one’s bum in the butter, the meaning of confirming, Kelly days, a quiz about common bonds, to have a goat’s mouth, antidisestablishmentarianism, and a Tex-Mex casserole dish. Make no bones about it! http://waywordradio.org

No Bones (Full Episode)

When a British tabloid reporter writing about a crocodile attack needed a synonym for crocodile, he went with knobbly monster, now a joking term for similarly creative ways of avoiding repetition. Juliet and Matthew Maguire, described by The Guardian newspaper as a pair of married monographers, present delightful real-life examples of this type of elegant variation in their new book The Little Book of Second Mentions: The Art of Avoiding Repetition (Bookshop|Amazon). Among them: the horizontal sleeping surface, a substitute for bed, and unfortunate ungulate, from a news story about a sheep trapped inside a car. http://waywordradio.org

1669-Intro-The-Art-Of-Avoiding-Repetition

Quiz Guy John Chaneski is back with another Common Bonds game, in which the object is to figure out what one word links a trio of ideas. For example, what one word unites the following three things? A report card, USDA inspected beef, and an incline. http://waywordradio.org

1669-Word-Quiz-Common-Bonds

A sumptuous new collection of poems about specific photographs shows how the moment in time captured by camera can inspire a verbal work of art as well. Also, why do we say that a quarterback got sacked? Plus, If you’re planning to vacation at a textile-free resort, you probably don’t have to pack much. Non-textile means “clothing-optional”—or even “clothing-free”! Also, the phrase turned off cold, a puzzle about funny irregular plurals, finifugal, got the bots, leveling, Weltschmerz, chiffarobe, and words of encouragement from Hong Kong English. Add oil! http://waywordradio.org

Drop in the Bucket (Full Episode)

In Hong Kong English, Add oil! means something like “Go on!” or “Go for it!”. A recent addition to the Oxford English Dictionary, this expression of encouragement comes from Cantonese and draws on the metaphor of literally adding oil to an engine to keep it running smoothly—lubricating, reducing friction, and providing a little extra oomph. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Intro-Add-Oil

A Southern California resort for nudists—or naturists, as some prefer to be called—had a recent change of management, and residents received a notice that the place will now become a textile park. The word textile is often used in that community as an adjective to distinguish between those who prefer clothing and those who make a habit of going without. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Textile

Oo-ee! Quiz Guy John Chanesk’s brain-teaser is all about irregular plurals involving double O’s and double E’s. Since the plural of foot is feet and goose is geese, he says, surely this means that the plural of boot must be . . . wait, what? http://waywordradio.org

1670-Word-Quiz-False-Irregular-Plurals

If there’s a logophile on your gift list, you have lots of choices—including a new trivia game for language lovers and a murder mystery for the word-obsessed. Plus, if someone calls you a schmoozer, should you be flattered or insulted? And if you’re on a road trip, there’s one place you definitely don’t want to get stuck, and that’s out where God lost his galoshes! Also, go around the Wrekin, kibitz, chemin des écoliers, grob, gundeck, a gift-giving game, allegro vs. lento in linguistics, bread and skip, send to Coventry, and why a car might be called a whip. http://waywordradio.org

Potatoes and Point (Full Episode)

Susie Dent’s murder mystery Guilty by Definition (Bookshop|Amazon) follows a lexicographer in Oxford who becomes a sleuth of a different kind, seeking the culprit in a long-unsolved killing. A lexicographer herself, Dent includes lots of obscure and obsolete words, such as conjobble, a verb that in the 17th century meant “to eat, drink, and talk.” http://waywordradio.org

1671-Intro-Guilty-by-Definition

League of the Lexicon is a wide-ranging trivia game for language lovers with thousands of questions on all matters linguistic. Creator Joshua Blackburn has also compiled a treasure trove of linguistic delights in a companion volume called The Language-Lover's Lexipedia (Bookshop|Amazon). http://waywordradio.org

1671-Lex-Bag-League-Of-The-Lexicon

Temperature blankets are a visual and tactile mirror of the day's weather. Knitters use specific shades of yarn to match daily temperatures, creating a colorful, cozy record of weather over a given period of time. Plus, a new book chronicles the history and uncertain future of modern dictionaries. And: try replacing the term bucket list with bliss list. It’s a great strategy to help you focus on finding joy in small, meaningful moments every single day. Also, Your epidermis is showing, a puzzle about funny pronunciations, efficacy vs. effectiveness, voiceless labial-velar approximants, gig economy, the meaning of 73 among ham radio operators, go gunnybags, to Elmer someone, the historical present, and better than snuff, but not near as dusty. http://waywordradio.org

Safe as Houses (Full Episode)

Melissa in Charlotte, North Carolina, remembers her grandfather would describe something excellent as  better than snuff, but not near as dusty. The snuff in this case refers to finely ground smokeless tobacco. Variants include finer than snuff, not near as dusty and better than snuff, gooder than taters, as well as gooder than taters, better than snuff, and gooder than snuff, sweeter than a Sunday hymn. All of these arose at a time when snuff was regarded as a healthy, fashionable stimulant, an idea echoed in phrases like up to snuff. http://waywordradio.org

1672-Caller-Melissa-Gooder-Than-Snuff

Miley in The Dalles, Oregon, asks about going gunny bags meaning to “break down” or “go haywire.” Her mother uses this expression, but has no idea where she picked it up. The term gunny sack, referring to a bag made of coarse material such as jute, comes from an East Indian term meaning “sack,” so gunny sack is a pleonasm that means “sack sack.” The Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles includes an entry for gunny-bag meaning to “beat out a fire with gunny sacks,” suggesting frantic improvisation. The mystery writer Judith Jance uses the term go gunnybags quite frequently in her work, and since Miley’s mother is a big fan of Jance’s novels, it’s quite possible that’s where she picked up the phrase. http://waywordradio.org

1672-Caller-Miley-Going-Gunny-Bags

Nikki in Charlotte, North Carolina, shares the story of a man who casually told passersby You dropped your pocket, prompting them to check for something that wasn’t there in the first place. That silly saying reminds her of playing pool and trying to distract an opponent about to shoot with Hey, do you breathe in or out when you take your shot? Other “made-you-look” sayings include Your sock is untied and Your epidermis is showing. The folklorists Iona and Peter Opie collect many similar kinds of sayings in their classic volume The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (Bookshop|Amazon). http://waywordradio.org

1672-Caller-Nikki-Dropped-Your-Pocket

While studying psychology in West Lafayette, Indiana, Sarah has wondered whether it’s correct to speak of a treatment’s efficacy or its effectiveness. In research and professional settings, efficacy describes how well a treatment works under controlled conditions, such as clinical trials, while effectiveness addresses how well it performs outside of that context, where circumstances can vary. In everyday conversation, though, this distinction is less important. http://waywordradio.org

1672-Caller-Sarah-Efficacy-VS-Effectiveness

Knitters are creating temperature blankets, also known as weather blankets, by assigning colors to daily temperatures and stitching them into finished pieces. Makers involved in The Tempestry Project extend the practice by representing the weather from the past in their fiber art, crafting blankets, scarves, and other items that preserve climate records from previous decades. http://waywordradio.org

1672-Intro-Temperature-Blankets

Stefan Fatsis has made a career out of participatory journalism. For his book Word Freak (Bookshop|Amazon) about the world of competitive Scrabble, he became an expert player. For A Few Seconds of Panic. : A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL (Bookshop|Amazon), he trained for a season as a placekicker for the Denver Broncos. So it’s perhaps not surprising that, given his passion for dictionaries, he embedded himself as a lexicographer-in-training at the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, writing or revising definitions for such words as microaggression, alt-right, and burkini. He writes about this in UNABRIDGED: The Thrill of (and Threat to) The Modern Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon). http://waywordradio.org

1672-Lex-Bag-UNABRIDGED-Stefan-Fatsis

In the thriller Down Cemetery Road starring Emma Thompson, a character uses the Britishism safe as houses, meaning “quite safe,” an expression thought to derive either from the sturdiness of a house or the sense of real estate as a secure investment. http://waywordradio.org

1672-Safe-As-Houses

A listener named Lita who grew up in Cuba shares her favorite Spanish idiom for “working hard”: sudando tinta, or literally, “sweating ink.” http://waywordradio.org

1672-Sweating-Ink

The Great Passage is an anime about a young man who steps up to take over a project to edit a new dictionary, eventually becoming a full-fledged lexicographer. http://waywordradio.org

1672-The-Great-Passage

In a nod to The Family Guy’s character Stewie Griffin, the A Way with Words family’s Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle about voiceless labial-velar approximants. Inspired by Stewie’s habit of pronouncing Cool Whip as “Cool Hwip,” John has come up with several two-word phrases containing one word that begins with W and second word beginning with WH. For example, if the clue is I was in a contest, and I made a very high -pitched sound with my lips, and that earned me first place, what’s the two-word answer? http://waywordradio.org

1672-Word-Quiz-Stewie-Wh

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

1239-Caller-Emelia-AuJus

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

1505-Caller-Stephanie-Mouthing-Words

1291-Caller-Tony-To-Hold-A-Candle-To.mp3

Calisa in Wilmington, North Carolina, wonders about the origin of the term fair to middling, meaning "about average." It derives from an old system of classifying agricultural products. http://waywordradio.org

1524-Caller-Calisa-Fair-To-Middling

1350-Caller-Eric-Facts.mp3

Mary Gordon in Austin, Texas, shares a delightful story about her elderly father and a handful of vegetables, which raises the question: what's the plural of squash? Squashes? Or squash? http://waywordradio.org

1540-Caller-Mary-Gordon-Squashes

Say you're in line at the drugstore. Does it bother you if the cashier says, "Next guest"? In department stores and coffeeshops, does the term "guest" suggest real hospitality -- or just an annoying edict from corporate headquarters? 

And speaking of buzzwords, has your boss adopted the trendy term "cadence"?  Also: words made up to define emotions, like "intaxication." That's the euphoria you get when you receive your tax refund--that is, until you remember it was your money to begin with. Plus, wide-awake hats, cheap-john, the problems of polyglots, and the many meanings of dope.

Polyglot Problems (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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