Unless you've been hiding out in a galaxy far, far away, you know that this is an election year. Grant and Martha talk about current political slang. Ever hear of “glass pockets”? Or “horseracism”? Is there an etymological connection between “caucus” and “Caucasian”?
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A caller wants to settle a friendly argument: Is something not worth debating called a “moot point” or a “mute point”? Here's the scene from the Friends episode that Grant mentions, in which Joey misunderstands the term as “moo point.”
A listener calls from in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to say that in her native Spanish, she can use several different words for “love” to denote a whole range of feelings, depending on how close she is to the other person. She's frustrated that English seems to lack that same spectrum of words meaning various degrees of love.
What's a “barbecue stopper,” and how does it differ from a “marmalade dropper”?
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a quiz about punny taglines from famous movies. For example, which Johnny Depp film's tagline is “His story will touch you, even though he can't”?
Back to political talk: Is there an etymological connection between the words “caucus” and “Caucasian”? A caller wants to know. Grant explains what politicians and watchdog groups mean by the term “glass pockets.”
A California man complains that the expression “grow your business” grates on his nerves.
A San Diego woman who's homeschooling her children wonders if there's a formula that explains why nouns like “teacher” and “writer” end in “–er,” while others, like “professor” and “conductor,” end in “-or.” She suspects it has to do with whether the words come from Latin roots or Anglo-Saxon roots.
This week's “Slang This!” contestant shares his favorite slang term, “teho,” (To Each His Own), then tries to puzzle out the meaning of the terms “karzy” and “low-bush moose.”
An upstate New York listener of Italian descent is curious about two favorite expressions: “fuggeddabouddit” and “bada-bing, bada-boom.”
A Texan says his grandmother used to refer to the thigh of a chicken as the “second joint.” Martha and Grant discuss whether it's a regional term. By the way, if you want to know the French term Martha mentions that roughly translates as “only a silly person won't eat it,” (literally, “the idiot leaves it”) it's “le sot-l'y-laisse.”
Regarding the comment by the caller about professions ending in -er vs -or. At one point she speculated that the -or denotes a more respectable job.
As a sports official, I receive most of my assignments from conference "assigners". At times, however, they spell their job title as 'assignor". Perhaps they too subscribe to the theory that the -or ending elevates the importance of the title.
During the discussion of "ba-da-bing" it was stated that this terms earliest use was thought to be 1972. In 1968, I worked in a boutique that had been taken over by people who were "soldiers" of Whity Tropicanno, the infamous Boston mob boss. The room used by the seamsteresses became a lounge for numerous unsavory types, inforcers, hitmen, etc. I frequently witnessed their small-talk and the term "ba-bing" was used accompanied by the unmistakable thumb-and-forefinger gesture indicating a pistol firing.
I understood the term to be essentially an onomatopoeia for the two sounds made by an automatic pistol, the report and the "ping"sound of the discharging shell casing. There is a closely-related expresion in British street gang/hip-hop vernacular popularized in the USA by Sasha Baron Cohen in his Ali Ji persona. It is: "Booya" which apes the sound of a sawn-off shotgun being fired. The extended version is: "Booya-kasha" which includes the sound of the pump slide chambering the next round.
“Grow your business”??!! Yes, you are going to hear about this.
Language should mirror the real world where it is appropriate. You can sit back and watch grass, marijuana or your beard grow, but it takes a lot more for a business to prosper. The idea that you can ‘grow' a business presumes that it doesn't take much for the action to happen.
Think about it. There are two ways that grow is inappropriate in this sense.
1)Businesses don't grow. They may be put together. They may be built. They may be nurtured, but even that is a misconception.
You might as well talk about growing nails or airplanes.
“Money doesn't grow on trees”, is an expression which relies on this very absurdity.
Should we perpetrate, “I'm sorry, businesses don't grow on trees, or even large bushes!”
2)Things which do grow, need to have favorable conditions set up for their thriving and frequently
need to be supplied with essential nutrients and appropriate tending.
I recall the late C. Stewart Smith* saying, “Yeah can'na grow a descent leak in Houston.”
In one respect growing a business implies there isn't really much one needs to do to make the action happen, which usually isn't the case. But that is exactly the opposite of the impression the speaker is trying to leave in the listener's mind. In fact they are pretending that they are super-human and have succeeded in turning something inanimate into a living organism! Now pretty much nothing else is needed
but to sit back and watch it grow.
The problem is not so much a problem with grammar, but logic or intellectual honesty.
* http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/teachers/smith_c.htm
I can't agree, Leo. You're leaving out the possibility of a metaphorical use of "grow." Further, you seem to only be accounting for a brick-and-mortar understanding of a business. And, finally, you seem to be suggesting that the business world isn't the real world.
When business people talk about "growing a business" I believe they are talking about tending to the kinds of human dynamics that make better workers and attract more customers. These are organic, social activities, and are directly related to our existence as social animals.
Growing applies perfectly to a business because business is above all a type of real-world human social activity, and is, therefore, susceptible to the kind of nurturing that can, for example, stimulate intellectual growth in its employees. The business and its employees can also lay foundations for what they believe will increase their business in a way that metaphorically resembles what a farmer does when she tills soil, plants seed, weeds, culls, and harvests.
I'd say resistance to language like "growing a business" represents a literal-mindedness that is a barrier to comprehension.