In the 1920’s, Americans were warned of a new danger sweeping across the country. This menace that harmed people’s health, ruined minds, and threatened marriages. The culprit? The national obsession with a new form of entertainment: crossword puzzles. Plus: why are accountants referred to as bean counters? And an old-fashioned way to describe a noisy, new restaurant: You can’t hear your ears in this place! Also, alcoholic, vacuum vs. sweeper, swarping and sworping, hove and heave, a quiz about funny surnames, objet trouvé, Wunderkammer, a punny school mascot, and debubiate.
This episode first aired May 16, 2025.
Bread Machine?
The crossword clue is “bread machine?” The answer has three letters. What is it?
Why Do We Call Them Bean Counters?
Dan, an accountant in Cincinnati, Ohio, wonders about the origin of the term bean counter.
Been Out Swarping or Sworping
Homer in Kingsport, Tennessee, says that when Homer came in after curfew, his dad would say, “You guys have been out swarping, haven’t you?” Swarping is related to a variety of dialect terms in Scotland and Northern England that have to do with swiping, swapping, swinging, striking, and warping. With the insertion of an R, as can occur in certain dialect pronunciations, swipe or swap becomes swarp or sworp. A dress that moves in a swinging motion might be said to be swarpy. One can take a swarp with a rake by using a swinging motion. By extension, swarping can also mean getting into mischief or behaving in a boisterous manner.
Fictious Family Name Origins Word Game
Family surnames often derive from occupations, locations, or physical characteristics, so Quiz Guy John Chaneski has crafted a puzzle about fictitious origins of people’s last names. For example, many folks have farmers in their ancestry, but what Lord of the Rings actor probably had forebears who grew flowers?
Sweeping with a Vacuum Cleaner
Thomas from Huntsville, Alabama, was baffled when his Ohio-born fiancée told him she was going to sweep the house, then proceeded to use a vacuum cleaner. Is she the only person who calls a vacuum cleaner a sweeper?
You Can’t Hear Your Ears
The Texas Folklore Society’s book The Best of Texas Folk and Folklore, 1916-1954 (Bookshop|Amazon) offers some wonderful browsing, including this saying to describe an environment that’s too loud: You can’t hear your ears in this place!
Non-Alcoholic vs. Alcohol-Free
An alcoholic who’s been sober for 29 years wonders if she’s overly sensitive to the terms non-alcoholic and alcohol-free being used with reference to food and drink. The problem is that alcoholic has more than one meaning. It can refer to someone who is addicted to alcohol, but it can also describe a substance that contains alcohol. Compounding the problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has its own definitions of alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and the word non-alcohol is used as an adjective in the world of science and chemistry.
Hove into View
In a nautical context, the word heave refers to the action of a ship rising or lifting with the waves. The past tense is hove, and if a boat hove into view, it slowly came into sight, as if gradually appearing on the horizon.
Cluemonia, the Craze of the 1920s
In the 1920s, a crossword-puzzle craze swept across the United States. The pastime became wildly popular, and even inspired a Broadway musical, Puzzles of 1925. The fad spread through Canada and England, and the Wimbledon Public Library even removed dictionaries from their reading room because of all the wear and tear from crossword devotees suffering from a bad case of cluemonia.
Objets Trouvés, Shizen, and Biophilia
Rich in Jackson, Wyoming, is searching for a word for using natural objects such as a rocks, driftwood, or antlers, as decoration. He considered the German Natur, “nature,” and Kunst, “art,” but it didn’t quite fit. Found object art has been used to denote these examples of outdoor beauty in indoor places. Such an item might also be described with the French term objet trouvé, literally “found object,” and, if the items are from living things, they can be described as biophilic, reflecting a love of nature, although that’s more often used in the context of architecture. In Japanese, shizen (自然) means “nature” or “naturalness,” and more broadly its borrowing in English connotes “the unforced quality of something,” such as found objects arranged intuitively. These ideas also call to mind the German Wunderkammer or “cabinet of curiosities.” And speaking of gathering up random rocks to bring home, there’s always leaverite.
Centaur, the Horace Mann Mascot
The mascot for Horace Mann Elementary School in Washington, D.C. is a centaur, that mythological creature that’s half-man, half-equine. Say the name of the school several times quickly, and you’ll see why.
Astorperious and Debubiate
Tracy in Beaufort, North Carolina, says her grandmother, aunts, and uncles used to try to calm down an upset or bossy person with Well, don’t get astorperious! You might debubiate! In the work of Zora Neale Hurston and in Harlem Renaissance slang of the 1920s, the word astorperious, also spelled asterperious, means “haughty” or “stuck-up” or “snobby.” It might be a combination of the name Astor, referring to the wealthy family, and imperious, or it might be a humorous adaptation of obstreperous, meaning “stubbornly defiant” or “aggressively boisterous.” Debubiate is far less common, but may be another fanciful formation, perhaps meaning “to leave.”
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Book Mentioned in the Episode
Music Used in the Episode
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casanova | Air | Premiers Symptomes | Source |
| No Tears, In the End | Grover Washington Jr. | All The King’s Horses | KUDU |
| J’Ai Dormi Sous L’Eau | Air | Premiers Symptomes | Source |
| Lean On Me | Grover Washington Jr. | All The King’s Horses | KUDU |
| Nardis | Bill Evans Trio | Explorations | Riverside Records |
| The Other Side | Sure Fire Soul Ensemble | Step Down | Colemine Records |
