A Way with Words Posts

Clever Phone Answering

Following our conversation about unusual ways to answer the phone, listeners share several others: One guy answers with animal noises, another responds, “Hello, you’re on the air,” and a third simply greets callers with the “On the phone.” This is...

Word-Peckers

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a word-pecker is “a person who trifles or plays with, or quibbles over, words.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word-Peckers” I always love it when I’m looking through...

Mystery of Jing Floogy

A South Carolina listener recalls that his father referred to the younger man’s girlfriend with a term that sounded like jing floogy or jing floogie. The word floogie has long been a synonym for floozy, a term applied to women, and often...

Talk To Me Nicely

A Fort Collins, Colorado, listener shares the story of an unusual telephone greeting. A businessman who was used to cranky customers answered every call with, “Talk to me nicely.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Talk To Me...