Cat Bristle (episode #1665)

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

Hey, guys.

Today, I’m talking to you in the so-called lifestyle influencer accent. I’m using rising tones, which make it sound like something’s always coming next.

Now, this so-called accent is not so much from a place as from a platform. That is, platforms like TikTok and YouTube. Because if you watch certain online videos, you’re going to hear that kind of speech. And there are reasons for it.

Those rising tones perk up your curiosity as you’re waiting for the next statement. So you keep on listening. And, of course, that’s what online influencers want. And it makes sense, right, Grant?

I mean, this is a way of holding the floor.

Yeah, there are a lot of ways that we hold the floor. When we speak, we can drag out a word. We can toss in a lot of just so we’re making a sound and somebody else can’t speak. But this one is pretty interesting. The influencer speak has got something.

Yeah, I mean, it’s a tool. It’s something that online influencers cultivate for a purpose, and that’s keeping eyeballs on the video that they’re trying to popularize.

Another example of that is the so-called Gen Z shake. And the Gen Z shake is in contrast to what’s called the millennial pause. Because millennials have been somewhat notorious for starting their videos by sort of making sure that everything is working. You know, they look at the camera and they’re hoping that it’s working right.

But Gen Z influencers start with their phone in their hands and it’s kind of shaking at the beginning and that catches your eye. And it also gives a sort of faux authenticity. It gives the viewers the feeling, oh, this person grabbed their phone mid-thought. They’re not overthinking this. They have something they need to share immediately. And so you keep watching because of this little shake at the beginning of a video.

I find that fascinating.

Oh, there’s so much more to talk about here. We didn’t even get into the Gen Z stare, but I guess that’s not social media. And the way they like to hold tiny microphones in their hands is a way to focus your vision not only on their eyes but on their hands.

I hadn’t thought about that. But, yeah, those little bitty microphones with the puff. We’ll talk more about the language used by influencers and on social media later in the show. And in the meantime, we’re taking your calls.

877-929-9673 is toll free in the United States and Canada. You can also text that number or email words@waywordradio.org.

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Meg. I live on Cape Cod. I have a comment rather than a question. We have electronic signs on the side of the highway, which are very, very good. And they mention different things about the highway or whatever. But we have a sign that says, use your blinker.

Now, I said blinker. I obviously have a Boston accent. Nothing wrong with that. But for them to put it on a sign that says B-L-I-N-K-A-H. No, not so much. Massachusetts is paying for that sign. What we talk like, you don’t make fun of it. It’s all right if you do or my friends do or someone else’s, but don’t put it on an electronic sign.

So you feel like they’re making fun, Meg?

Well, of course. Well, it’s like we have lots of things that say, you’re just smart, and they spell that wrong, too.

Yeah.

But they don’t have it on an electric sign. So anyway, what it is is when you cross over the Sagamore Bridge, which takes you to Cape Cod, there’s that sign. Okay? I understand about using your blinker, but we still spell it B-L-I-N-K-E-R. Okay?

Yeah.

I don’t mind someone saying blinker like we say it. Absolutely. Beautiful. No problem at all. I get it. It’s okay. I would like them not to have that on the sign. If they’re going to do it right, use your blinker and spell it correctly. And they could say Cape Cod is wicked good. Now, someone will have to look up wicked good.

That’s perfect. Meg, let me offer you a different take on use your blinker, which is their goal on those digital signs, first of all, is to get you to use your blinker. But also to have you remember the sign and the message. And apparently it has worked very well with you, Meg, because you are talking about that sign and spreading the word about using your blinker.

Well, I understand why they did it. I do understand it. And it is something you will always remember.

Yeah, absolutely. I get it.

Yeah.

So linguistically, if you care about that, it’s an example of what’s called I dialect, E-Y-E. And it’s where you kind of affectionately or humorously re-spell things to mimic in spelling the way things are pronounced, say, in a regional accent like yours. And so they’re like plugging into this larger tradition of trying to be authentic and trying to be fair in representing the local way of speaking. Instead of using kind of the standard spelling and spelling it like I would say it. And I’m, you know, I’m originally from Missouri. What do I got in common with use your blinker? Nothing.

Well, what you have in common is you use your blinker.

I try to, even when I don’t have to. Like in a turn lane, in a turn lane where everyone’s supposed to be turning, I still use my blinker because there are people who may not know that it’s a turn lane.

Exactly.

Yeah. But anyway, that was what it was about. And I just, I understand. It’s about them, people remembering.

Yeah.

I totally get it. And it worked with you, Meg. They got you. They hooked you.

Yeah, I find it quite charming, actually.

You don’t find it charming?

Well, no. If you say it to me like that, that’s absolutely fine. I don’t find it, not charming. I just find it annoying when I see it spelled that way. But that’s my experience.

That’s fair. And Meg, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I think it’s totally fair. And I got to say, you have a delightful accent, and I think it’s fun and interesting and useful to relate to that sign in the way that you have. So, bravo. It’s very good. Your opinions are noted and appreciated. Thank you.

Just remember what? Cape Cod is wicked good.

Yes, it is. But use your blinker.

All right. Bye-bye.

Definitely. Take care. Bye.

Talk to us about it. 877-929-9673.

Grant, did you know that the little button on top of a baseball cap has a name?

Oh, everything’s got a name, Martha. I just don’t know them all. What is it?

Well, this one is either Squatchy or Squatcho. Now, this was a term that apparently can’t be traced back any further than the old Sniglet’s book, which came out in the 1980s.

Yeah, Rich Hall’s stuff.

Yes, yes. A squacho in that book is defined as the little button on top of a baseball cap. But I’ve been reading up on that, and a lot of professional baseball players use that term jokingly today, and sportscasters as well. And you can find talk online about how many of those baseball players actually remove their Squatchies. Because, like, if you’re a catcher, you don’t want the ball hitting your head and hitting the button additionally. Or if you’re really tall and you’re in the dugout, the dugout roof is pretty low. And so if you’re excited about something and you’re jumping up and down and you’re really tall, your Squatchie might hit the ceiling and hurt.

Oh, yeah. It could be like pressing your own bit of metal right into the top of your head.

Yeah, yeah. So people remove those. That was news to me.

Well, whether you’re wearing a Squatcho or your name is Sasquatch, give us a call 877-929-9673.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Matt from Spokane, Washington.

Hi, Matt. Welcome to the program. What’s up?

Okay, so I have been getting into a steady tea habit, started drinking tea in the mornings and the evenings, and then had the trouble that drinking tea in the evening makes it hard to go to sleep. So looking around, I found out about this different kind of tea leaf that has little to no caffeine, and I have not been able to figure out how to pronounce it.

So the first time I saw it, it’s spelled R-O-O.

Oh, I don’t know if I can spell anymore.

R-O-O-I-B-O-S.

I called it rooibos.

And immediately the first person hearing me say it smirked at me like, that’s not how you say it.

Well, how did they say it?

Really?

Well, I can’t remember how they said it.

What I know is the most recent tea shop that I bought it from, he says rooibos and claims that’s the way to say it.

I, you know, did my duty and looked at YouTube and every YouTube video had a different way of pronouncing it.

So I was curious, how do you pronounce it?

But also, like, where does that word come from?

Where does the T come from?

Oh, both excellent questions.

So this is a red T, right?

A red herbal T?

Correct, correct.

R-O-O-I-B-O-S.

What do you think, Martha?

Yeah.

Well, yeah, I think your pronunciation is pretty darn close.

The one that I see most often is rooibos.

And the reason that it looks so strange is that it comes from Africans, from the language of South Africa.

And it translates literally as red bush because it comes from, this tea comes from a plant that looks like a red bush.

And sometimes it’s actually called red bush tea.

So you could always spring that one on the guy.

Yeah.

Say you want some red bush tea.

It’s also sometimes called red tea or just bush tea.

But rooibos is the…

So the person in charge of me, if his name is Roy, I would say rooibos, rooibos.

Roughly, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, you could curry favor with him by bringing him some rooibos tea.

So in Afrikaans, it’s just a little different than the English version, like the North American English version.

And that last syllable is just a little more clipped.

And the R is almost trilled.

So it’s like rooibos.

Rooibos.

Something like that.

But you don’t need to go that far.

But we don’t need to do that.

Just so you know.

No.

No.

Okay.

Okay.

Excellent.

I can drink it and say it now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It’s fantastic, right?

It’s good tea.

I had it first in the Virgin Islands like a long time ago, like almost 30 years ago.

And I remember having this bush tea and going to this one shop, and I loved it.

I loved it.

And she made it from the raw materials, not tea bags.

It was fantastic.

No, right.

So I’m doing a kind of a chai variation, steeping it in milk, boiling it, and then straining it.

And it’s delicious.

It’s addictive.

Without the caffeine.

Sounds fantastic.

Well, Matt, thank you for your call.

Take care.

Thank you.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

So call us with your language question, and we will spill the tea.

877-929-9673 or send it to us an email. That address is words@waywordradio.org.

We heard from Alan Friedman who offered a word that I’m surprised isn’t a word already. And that word is if you’re dreading something, you don’t want it to happen, you’re in a state of anticipation.

Oh, so logical, right? Morphologically sound. Perfectly cromulent English. Yes.

Yes. And I’ve been looking all over the internet for uses of this term, and I can’t find them. So I’m just baffled.

Yeah, I’ve reached the age where most things on my calendar that involve going out at night, I have anticipation for them.

That’s a perfect usage of the term, anticipation.

Thank you, Alan.

Well, we anticipate you calling us toll-free from Canada or United States, 877-929-9673.

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett.

And sailing in and waving a pirate flag and cocking his tricorn in our direction, it’s our quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Arr, matey.

Arr, matey.

It’s fine to be here.

Sorry, I got a thing.

I got a pirate in my throat.

Hi, guys.

Good to see you again.

Listen, the nerdiverse lost a shining icon when satirist Tom Lehrer passed away.

Now, besides writing and performing dozens of cheeky tunes about politics, science, and mathematics, he contributed several songs to The Electric Company.

Now, children of the 70s, like me, remember educational tunes like Silent E and L-Y.

That last one got me thinking about fake adverbs, words that seem to be adverbs because they end in L-Y, but they’re just not.

Okay, I’ll give you a clue to the word and to its fake adverb persona.

For example, if I said, like a sudden charge against an enemy, it does it like actress Mineo or baseballer Bando would clue the noun Sally.

It’s not Sally.

It’s Sally.

Sally.

Right.

Sally.

To Sally Forth.

Salmoneo.

Right.

Exactly.

Salmoneo or Sal Bando.

To do it, Sally.

Sal-L-Y.

Got it.

These are words that have the L-Y, which sometimes signals an adverb, but in this case, not.

Right.

Usually, some of these are adjectives.

Some of these are nouns.

Some of these are otherly.

Let’s try it.

Ready?

Yep.

Okay.

Okay.

It’s the solitary answer to, can I do it like a switch position?

Can I do it like a switch position?

I was going to say awfully, but I guess it’s only.

It is.

Only or only.

Solitary is the key there for only.

On.

L-Y.

Very good.

Let’s spread it on like a program for your mobile phone.

Spread it on like a program for your mobile phone?

Oh, we’re going to do it.

Apply.

Apply instead of apply.

Exactly.

Apply.

App.

L-Y is apply.

Very good.

He’s going to insinuate that I do it like a mischievous child.

A mischievous child.

I’m 100% sure you were a mischievous child.

John, what are you implying?

I’m trying to imply something.

Imply.

Imp.

L-Y.

Your performance is very imply today, John.

Very nice.

It’s very probable that they’ll do it in the way of a thumbs up.

Do it in the way of a thumbs up.

It’s extremely probable they’ll do it in the way of a thumbs up.

On Facebook.

Yeah.

Because it’s likely.

Oh, likely, Martha.

Yeah.

Likely.

Like, L-Y.

Finally, they seem greasy and unctuous doing it in the style of a British or Aussie interjection.

Oily.

Oy! Oy-ly! Oy! L-Y.

I have never seen so much action on my social medias as when Tom Lehrer passed away.

So many people saying how much they were going to miss him and how great he was.

Right.

Almost for no other celebrity. It was amazing.

He is going to be missed greatly. Yeah.

Take care, John, and sail those high seas with all your vigor and energy, and we get 10% of your treasure hoard.

We’ll talk about it.

100%.

This show is about words and language and a little bit of goofing around.

If you’d like to goof around with us, call us toll-free from the United States and Canada, 877-929-9673.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hey, how’s it going?

This is Carl Feaster calling in from Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Hi, Carl.

Welcome to the program.

Woods Hole, there’s a famous oceanography center there, right?

Yeah, that’s right.

It’s called the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Nice.

What’s on your mind?

Yeah. So I’m calling today about a piece of workplace jargon that originates here at HUI.

Oh, so you’re there. You work there?

Oh, yes. Yes. I’m an engineer here.

Oh, fantastic.

So it’s common in our field to be deploying sensors or robots or moorings using these big, thick underwater cables that are typically reinforced with like Kevlar and rubber.

So they typically have, these cables have a memory, kind of like the old phone cords for handheld sets.

And when the cables are not handled properly and wrapped up properly, they get into be a bit of a mess, all kind of naughty and unhappy and difficult to deal with.

And we call this a wuzzle.

So a cable can be wuzzled, it can be de-wuzzled if it’s coiled back up properly.

And I’m curious if this word is, you know, kind of comes from our industry or if it’s used elsewhere or where and really where it came from.

So W-U-Z-Z-L-E, is that right?

That’s correct.

A Wuzzle. And you’ve never heard it outside of this particular environment?

No, no, we haven’t.

And, you know, when we use this term, we have, like, you know, customers from out of town here.

You know, we can point to, you know, a wuzzle and say, oh, can you, like, recoil that and hang it up?

And, you know, they’ll know what we mean, but then they’ll ask, like, oh, I’ve never heard that before.

Okay.

Wuzzle.

Wuzzle.

Oh, it sounds like a great pet name.

There are going to be a lot of kittens named Wuzzle here on out.

Yeah.

And de-wuzzle, too.

I am completely stealing your word, if you don’t mind, because I have an Ethernet cord that is really, really, really long.

And it’s really frustrating.

I have a hard time rolling it up.

And it gets in a wuzzle.

Now I can call it a wuzzle.

I mean, when you use that word, do you use it kind of contemptuously or just kind of casually?

I would say it’s a good mix of both.

It’s very frustrating to deal with, especially with some of these longer cables that can be over 100 feet long.

Having to recoil them up can be tedious.

Yeah, same with an Ethernet cord.

But I bet it’s even more challenging in the work you do.

The word wuzzle goes back to at least the mid-19th century.

The verb to wuzzle means to jumble or to put in a state of confusion.

As far as I know, it seems to be limited in that sense to your field.

I mean, the one picture of a wuzzle I can find is a picture at Hui’s website talking about wuzzles as kinked tangles that can break the lines or damage instruments, which sounds very bad.

But it seems like the kind of thing that should go well beyond your line of work.

And it did at one point, right?

Like to wuzzle meant to muddle up, especially like with alcohol, you know, to confuse someone’s brain and not necessarily a tangle of rope or wire.

I’m just surprised it hasn’t had more application because those things are so frustrating.

Well, now it will, Carl.

We’re going to get this word out there.

Yeah, it’s a fantastic word.

I hope it gets more use.

So thanks for the call.

I hope we were able to help you a little bit, give you some depth and dimension on it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks very much.

Really appreciate it.

Sure.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Are you in a wuzzle about something linguistic? Call or text 877-929-9673 or go to our website at waywordradio.org and find our contact page.

Listener Greg Johnson asked a question that I’ve been pondering ever since.

And his question is, when does late at night change to early in the morning?

He says, certainly not at midnight.

A friend of mine maintains it happens just after 2:30 a.m.

That 2:30 is still nighttime, but a quarter to three is morning for sure.

And, Grant, I just keep thinking about that because, I don’t know, I’m going to bed earlier and earlier.

Yeah, it’s true.

Some people might look at demarcating dawn and dusk by where the sun is above or below the horizon.

But at night, we don’t have that sun.

So perhaps the moon is a way to tell where is the moon and what is it doing?

And I also wonder to what extent other languages maybe divide up the night differently.

To me, like 11 o’clock is getting late at night anymore.

Right, right. And that’s a function of where you are in your life, right?

Yeah, and early in the morning to me is probably 3 or 4 because I’ve been getting up at around 5-ish.

So I don’t know.

I would really love to hear what our listeners have to say about that.

Yeah, we’d love to say, when does late at night become early in the morning for you?

Do you have to sleep between the two?

Let us know, 877-929-9673.

Or talk to us on social media.

You can find all of those handles on our website at waywordradio.org.

Hi there. You have A Way with Words.

Hey, this is Ophelia Thornton.

I am calling you from Johnson City, Tennessee.

Lovely country there. What’s on your mind today?

Something my great-grandmother, we called her Nanny, but her name was Geneva Redmail.

She used to say cat bristle all the time whenever she was surprised by something.

And I just wanted to know if y’all had any information about what that meant, because I never really heard anybody else say it but her.

So I didn’t know if it was something that other people really even did say.

Cat bristle.

So what kinds of situations would she pipe up with that?

So, I mean, she could be even frustrated about something.

If she dropped something or spilled something, she would say cat bristle.

But she’s just kind of trying to be funny.

If she heard surprising news, she would say cat bristle, like somebody from the church just got engaged.

She would say cat bristle.

So those are the kind of situations you would say it.

That’s so charming.

I love it because the cats, when they bristle their tail out of excitement or anger, is just a strange thing.

So I guess if something strange happens, it’s kind of logical to say that.

Or was it more of a replacement swear word?

You know, I think in any instance that she said cat bristle, you probably could put a swear word in there.

I don’t know if I ever heard her swear in my life.

So I don’t even know if it really crossed her mind that it was a replacement swear word.

I think she just kind of said it.

And then as she said it, cat bristle.

I love it.

I have never heard of it.

And it’s in none of my reference works.

And I don’t know that anybody else says it, but I think it’s fantastic.

It’s kind of in the same category as two other expressions to make somebody’s hair stand on end or to get your hackles up.

To make your hair stand on end is about being surprised or frightened.

And to get someone’s hackles up is literally to make the hair on the back of an animal stand up, like from the neck to the tail.

But figuratively in a person, it might just mean that they’re theyre annoying you or with another cat metaphor, rubbing you the wrong way.

You know, I’m also reminded of a phrase that I’ve heard in that part of the country, which is scat cat, get your tail out of the gravy.

I’ve never heard that either. No. So get your tail out of the gravy.

What is that? Just if someone puts their hand in the cookie jar or something?

Well, I’m trying to remember, Grant. I think it’s like just an exclamation, right?

Yeah, yeah, that’s right, yeah.

Cat, cat.

I mean, there are lots of different versions of that.

Yeah.

But cat bristle is an expression of delight or surprise or frustration.

Love it.

Outstanding, Ophelia.

Thank you for sharing.

Yeah, thank you all so much.

Take care of yourself now.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye, Ophelia.

Call us to talk about the linguistic heirlooms in your family.

877-929-9673.

Back in 1968, a couple of classes at Cheyenne High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming, compiled some lists of slang.

And it’s interesting to me that some of them are things that are instantly recognizable today,

Like do-hinky for, you know, a whatchamacallit or a thingamajig.

And tube for television set, that doesn’t strike me as particularly unusual.

But one of the ones that I really liked was they used the term Clyde to mean head or mind.

So use your Clyde or put it out of your Clyde.

I like that.

Spelled like the man’s name?

C-L-Y-D-E?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Although it could be a small C as well as a capital C.

But use your Clyde.

For some reason, that just makes sense to me.

That’s pretty cool.

Where was this list?

Well, it ran in newspapers throughout the United States in 1968,

But it was one of these, hey, teenagers in Cheyenne, Wyoming,

Can compile this list of slang.

Those are cool.

Lexicographers depend on those to keep their dictionaries deep and current.

877-929-9673.

words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hey, this is Alan from Columbia.

Hi, Alan. Columbia where?

Columbia, South Carolina.

Well, what can we do for you, Alan?

So I called in.

When I was younger, my grandparents, they actually lived next door to me,

They would stop by or it was way before cell phones,

So there was no texting, stop by, and they were like,

Anybody want to go juking?

And all of us in my family, grandkids, would jump at that.

For us, juking just kind of meant we want to go.

We’re not real purpose on what we’re doing.

We’re going to kind of shop, kind of look.

We’ll always probably get something to eat, but we’re just going to hang out juking around.

And so it’s become a normal thing that I say now to my kids and in my family.

But I realized that we might be the only family that says that because I’ve said it to other people before and they looked at me like I was crazy.

Oh, I love it.

It’s such a connection to history here.

Wait until you hear this, Alan.

Juking.

So for your family, it was just kind of about running errands, going hither and yon, maybe aimlessly, but still kind of spending time together.

That’s right.

Yeah.

But it connects to the same juke that is in jukebox.

It’s the same.

It’s got the same root.

And they both go back to juke, often spelled J-U-K-E or J-O-O-K, which was kind of a, well, the writer Zora Neale Hurston described a juke as a place where they sing, dance, gamble, love, and compose blues songs, incidentally.

And she wrote that in 1935.

And so a juke is kind of like an all-in-one bar, dance joint, food joint, grill, roadhouse kind of situation.

Just a place to go to drink and dance and eat and have fun.

And even older than that, there’s a really strong chance that this word juke comes from West African languages.

Because originally it was an African American term.

And so there are words related to living wickedly in a couple of West African languages that are very similar to juke in their pronunciation.

And they may have come over with the enslaved people and hung about and were used.

This term was particularly relevant in Georgia and Florida.

And actually Zora Neale Hurston’s description comes from a place, a juke in North Florida.

And you will find that that kind of was the jumping-off point from where it left black American culture to white American culture and entered the mainstream.

And so people write about juking.

Tennessee Williams in 1957 in his play Orpheus Descending, he wrote, I want you to go juking with me.

That’s writing and stopping to drink and dance and writing some more and stopping to drink and dance again.

And after a while, you just stop to drink.

And sometimes you stop drinking, go to a tourist cabin with your girl.

But anyway, so you’ve got kind of a more, how shall we put this, a less wicked version of juking going on in your family.

A little tamer.

A little tamer.

But it’s got the tradition there.

Oh, that’s amazing.

Yeah, I figured it.

I’d only heard jukebox before, so I figured there was probably some type of connection.

Yeah.

Well, I appreciate that.

Yeah, thank you so much for the question, Alan.

Absolutely.

Yep.

It’s just a good family term.

It’s nice to kind of know where it’s come from.

Yeah, it’s fantastic.

Keep using it.

Spread it to the next generation.

Most definitely.

My kids know what it means.

Very good.

Excellent.

Take care now, Alan.

All right.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Well, call us and hang out with us for a while to talk about language, 877-929-9673, or send your thoughts to words@waywordradio.org.

There’s more A Way with Words on the way. Stay tuned.

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

When you hear or see the word preppy today, it may not mean what you think.

Traditionally, the word preppy has been associated with exclusive prep school attire, like those polo shirts and khaki pants and cable knit sweaters and blazers and pearls.

You know, that conservative, polished East Coast prep school look.

But today, among young teenagers, the word preppy has taken on a very different meaning.

For them, preppy describes clothing that’s very girly and bright colors with lots of ruffles.

And fabrics that feature smiley faces and animal prints and sparkly stars.

And a lot of that clothing is bright pink.

Think about all that neon pink we saw when the Barbie movie came out a couple of years ago.

It’s that kind of bright pink.

And if you don’t believe me, just ask any middle schooler.

So what’s going on?

Well, linguist Adam Oleksik has a very interesting argument about this change in the meaning of the word preppy.

He says it’s the direct result of social media algorithms that are pushing content to consumers.

And he notes that the word preppy in the old sense was long used in the catalogs of upscale retailers like Brooks Brothers and Ralph Lauren.

But then in recent years, the word was picked up by more youth-oriented retailers.

And their young customers in turn picked up this positive word suggesting something fashionable and desirable.

And they started applying the word preppy to the clothes they admire and like to wear, that is, clothes that are worn by the popular girls.

Now, these girls were posting TikTok videos of themselves in their own outfits of choice, which happened to be bright pink and girly.

And they started labeling their videos with that positive hashtag Preppy.

And savvy business owners picked up on the girls’ usage and started labeling their own social media with things like hashtag Preppy.

Simply because it was a trendy word that appealed to that demographic.

And to that demographic, they were able to sell more of this sparkly pink girly clothing.

So that’s just one example of how social media algorithms are influencing the way we speak and write.

The algorithm rewards what’s popular, and then an old word gets repackaged for clicks.

And Alexic writes about that dynamic and much more in a new book called AlgoSpeak, How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.

And so, Grant, that’s just one example.

There’s so much more in this book, but I found this business about Preppy really interesting.

Yeah, it’s different.

Like you said, when I was in school decades ago, Preppy definitely was like pop collars on polos and boat shoes and khakis.

Very different.

And I’m also hearing that I need to be wearing more bright pink.

Is that what you’re saying?

I mean, it could work for me.

I don’t know.

These young women have a lot of taste and style that I don’t have.

Well, you know, we often talk about similarities between language and clothing.

We do, yeah.

I don’t think I’m going to be using preppy to mean pink, and I’m not going to be wearing pink like that either.

We will link to this book, I’ll Go Speak, on our website at waywordradio.org.

And hey, we’d love to hear your latest slang and new language, no matter where you learned it.

Call us or text us, toll free, 877-929-9673, or email words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi there. This is Lois calling from northern Wisconsin.

Hi, Lois. Welcome to the program. What’s up?

Well, my mother used two words that I had various dictionaries and tried to prove to her that these words were not actual words.

And she said, your grandmother uses these words and your great-grandmother uses these words.

The two words are Gunner and Funcil.

And she never spelled them for me, but I would say Funcil would be F-U-N-C-I-L.

And Gunner is either G-N-U-R or G-A-N-U-R.

Okay. And what do they mean?

Don’t know, because they were never found in any type of publication.

Yeah. What do they mean?

Well, a gunner is that fuzzy stuff in the pointy corner of your pocket that you clean out before you put your pants in the laundry machine.

Right.

And a funsel is the corner of your ceiling and walls.

It’s not a cobweb.

It’s not a spider web.

It’s that single strand that hangs down that has all kind of collected fuzzy stuff on it.

That’s a funsel.

Okay.

Wow.

And so the women in your family have used this word.

Yes, on my mother’s side.

And my dad was, my grandpa, McClellan, was Scotch-Irish, and I don’t know what the Fosters were.

And then my great-grandmother was a Robertson was her maiden name.

So I truly can’t tell you ethnic heritage.

Well, Lois, I’m interested in the Scottish connection because what I know about Gner is that it was popularized by a wonderful book in 1958 called Ounce, Dice, Trice, which is this book of wordplay, particularly for young folks. And it was written by Alistair Reid, who was a Scottish poet, and he was actually a scholar of South American literature.

He did translations of Pablo Neruda and Borges. But in that book, which has got these whimsical illustrations, it has this definition of GNUR, which is G-N-U-R-R. It says, what is GNUR?

GNUR is the substance that collects after periods of time in the bottom of pockets or in the cuffs of trousers.

How about that? How about that? My mother was absolutely correct. She would be saying,

Told you. Always have to listen to mama. So how is Reed spelled? R-E-I-D or R-E-E-D?

It’s R-E-I-D, Alistair Reed. And the book is really charming. You know, we’re often asked, what book can I give to kids to get them interested in language? And this is a book from 1958, but it’s really delightful.

It goes on to say, Gner is a smaller variety of Oos, and then it leads you on to Oos, which is defined in this book as the airy, furry stuff that ultimately gathers under beds, and Ghanemies.

It is also called Trilbies, kittens, or dust bunnies, and interestingly enough, that is a word that you’ll see in Scotland.

Yeah, dust bunnies are very familiar.

O-O-S-S-E.

Yeah, O-O-S-S-E.

Okie dokie.

Yeah, and as for the other term, I don’t know of a term.

You’re thinking it’s like funsel for the little thing that’s dangling down that maybe used to be part of a cobweb and it just collects things?

I’m not aware of anything like that unless it’s a combination of a couple of words, you know, just a made-up word like fun or funintensel or something like that.

I don’t know, Grant.

No, I’ve never heard of Bunsel.

But it’s definitely worth it.

When you said that, it’s like tinsel?

Maybe it kind of looks like a piece of tinsel, you know, the long stringy things people put on Christmas trees.

Fun tinsel.

Yeah, really cheap tinsel.

But Lois, thank you so much for sharing your memories and your stories. And we appreciate the call.

Take care of yourself.

Thank you.

Bye for now.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

You can find all of our past episodes and more than a dozen ways to reach us on our website at waywordradio.org.

I’m thinking back to that conversation that we had with Meg from Cape Cod about the sign on the highway that she saw that said, use your blinker. And I was thinking that we failed to mention that there have been lots of other signs like that all around the country.

One that I saw around the Fourth of July said, don’t drive star-spangled hammered, which got my attention. And other ones around Halloween have said, hocus pocus, drive with focus.

I mean, it’s smart. It’s casual and quick and gets the point across, right?

Well, I agree with you, but apparently the federal government doesn’t agree with us because a couple of years ago, federal regulators decided that they were going to push for those signs being retired because they felt that diminished respect for the sign.

A federal agency said that those kinds of signs should be simple, direct, brief, legible, and clear. And so while they didn’t ban those kinds of signs, they do discourage them.

So they wagged a finger and they must have had a new boss brought over from the IRS or something because that’s no fun.

That’s it.

877-929-9673.

Hello. You have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Bonnie Barnard and I’m calling from Jacksonville, Florida.

Hey, Bonnie, we’re glad to have you on the show. What’s on your mind today?

Well, I wanted to find out a word that I knew but have forgotten. I think it’s what I would call a scientific term. And it’s the action for when rain falls on a roof, for example, and then drips down over the fascia or whatever the front part is called.

But instead of falling directly to the ground, it has a tendency to curve up. There’s some kind of suction or movement where the water curves up underneath the eaves. And there’s a name for that.

If I remembered, it starts with an S as in Sam. And I have known about this and thought about it and haven’t forgotten it. But several months ago, many months ago, it just flew out of my mind. I lost it. And now, because I’m curious about it, I want to know what that word is.

I think we can help you, but the two terms I’m thinking of don’t begin with an S. So just in general principles, you’re talking about water adhesion, A-D-H-E-S-I-O-N. The water is adhering to the surface, but that clinging or sticking is kind of a famous trait of water.

These intermolecular adhesive forces will do things like make the top of a glass of water bulge without spilling, but also make them, as you say, crawl along the underside of a surface rather than fall straight down.

But there’s another term that is named after a Romanian aerodynamics pioneer who worked in jet propulsion in the 20th century. And he described what is now given his name. It’s called the Kwanzaa effect. And his name is C-O-A-N-D-A, Henri or Henry Kwanzaa.

And this is the tendency not only of water to adhere, but to curve away from the initial flow direction because of these adhesive properties, these adhesive forces. So I don’t know if that was the term you were thinking of, the Kwanda effect.

It is not.

Okay.

I think I may have to just call this guy, keeping in mind this was decades ago.

Yeah, I mean, when you’ve got the curiosity yet, you’ve got to answer it.

I know. I know.

You’re not thinking of surface tension, are you?

Surface tension?

Tension.

No.

Yeah. No. Okay. Just checking.

No, it’s not that. It’s not that.

The other great thing about this show is that we have lots and lots of very well-informed listeners who might come up with the word you need.

That would be interesting. That would be interesting.

Stay tuned.

Thank you, Bonnie. Take care. Thanks for calling.

And thank you. Bye-bye.

All right. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

If you know what Bonnie’s talking about, text or call 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org.

G.K. Chesterton is always good for a quotation, and there’s one from him that really sums up for me how I feel about language in general. And it goes, the world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for want of wonder.

And I think about the gift that language is, this miracle that’s been handed down from generation to generation. I mean, there’s so much to wonder about when it comes to language. It’s just, I think that really sums it up.

You keep wonder as a kind of way to set a course. The world is far more interesting.

Absolutely.

Rather than taking things for granted or dismissing, is it irrelevant?

Yeah.

Suleikha Jawad says, live each day as if it’s your first. And I think that’s another wonderful way to talk about wonder.

I’m doing it.

Oh, don’t go too far with that metaphor.

877-929-9673.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, hello.

This is June. I’m calling from Miami, Florida.

Well, hello, June. We’re glad to have you.

Hi, June.

I just had a thought. Every time I hear A Way with Words, I always remember an experience I had way back in Jamaica. We had an exchange student from Scotland, and she was assigned to me at my workplace.

And at Easter, we have this thing in Jamaica where we have Easter buns. And my bun was sitting on the windowsill. And I went away. When I came back, she said to me in her beautiful Scottish accent, oh, Miss June, somebody’s away with your buns.

And every time I hear A Way with Words, I remember her because it just resonated so well with me. And it’s a comment. I know it’s just their way of saying things in Scotland. But away with your bun.

Yeah, away almost takes on a verb role there, doesn’t it? It’s very odd.

What kind of bun are we talking about here? Is this like a dessert or a pastry? What is happening with this bun?

It’s a pastry. At Easter, we’re very British in the Caribbean. And so we have this Easter bun that we make. It’s just got similar to, what would I say here now? It’s got fruits like cherries and mixed fruits in there. And we have it with cheese at Easter time. And it’s really a delicacy. People look forward to it so much in Jamaica.

Yeah, I would away with that.

Martha’s the culprit. If you go to Scotland, it’s an everyday way of speaking. You might hear someone say, come on, lads, let’s away to home. And so away kind of, there’s some kind of verb deletion happening here where instead of let’s go away to home, or if you use it in the past tense, someone away with your bun.

Is that what she said? Someone away with your bun?

Yes, someone’s away with your bun. So like the someone has gone away with your bun would be like the longer way of saying it. But they just kind of do the verb deletion.

And this is a thing that people do in English all the time.

We’ll just say stuff and we’ll leave out the verb because it’s understood.

So that was just a thought I had.

That’s very nice. Thank you for sharing your memory. We really appreciate it, June. Call us again sometime.

Absolutely. God bless.

Take care.

Bye.

Well, get off your buns and give us a call, 877-929-9673.

You can also text that same number or email us, words, at waywordradio.org.

A Way with Words senior producer is Stefanie Levine.

Tim Felten is our engineer and editor, and John Chaneski is our quiz master.

Go to waywordradio.org for all of our past episodes, podcast links, and ways to reach us.

If you have a language, thought, or question, the toll-free line is always open in the U.S. and Canada, 1-877-929-9673.

A Wayword Words is an independent nonprofit production of Wayword, Inc.

It’s supported by listeners and organizations who are changing the way the world talks about language.

Although we’re not a part of NPR, we thank NPR stations throughout the United States that carry the show.

And special thanks to our nonprofits volunteer board.

Michael Breslauer, Josh Eckels, Clare Grotting, Merrill Perlman, Bruce Rogow, Rick Seidenwurm, and Betty Willis.

Thanks for listening. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. Until next time, goodbye.

So long.

Thank you.