ShowSegments

These are discrete parts, or segments, of whole episodes from the radio show A Way with Words. Each episode has about ten to 15 segments. If you click on segment names, you should find a playable audio file where you can listen to just that segment without having to seek through a whole episode.

Use Your Clyde

In 1968, students at Cheyenne High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming, compiled a collection of their own slang, including the word Clyde, used to refer to one’s head, as in Use your Clyde! This is part of a complete episode.

Funsel and Gnurr

A Wisconsin wonders if anyone outside her family uses the word funsel, possibly spelled funcil, to denote “a single strand of leftover cobweb hanging from the ceiling.” That one may be all their own, but another word she asks about, gnurr, meaning...

Highway Punnery

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...

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