Why is it that what you say to your family and what they hear are different? If you say "no," your child hears "maybe," and if you say "maybe," she hears "ask again and again, and yes is just around the corner." Grant and Martha discuss ways that families communicate and miscommunicate. Also in this episode: the West Coast exclamation moded!, the Navy expression turn to, how to pronounce llama, what it means if someone says your car is banjaxed, and more.
Listen here:
Download the MP3 here (23.5 MB).
To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program, or subscribe to the newsletter.
To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program, or subscribe to the newsletter.
Grab some popcorn, slip into a folding seat, and you're ready to watch the coming attractions. But if they're shown before the main feature, why in the world are movie previews called trailers? Enjoy old movie trailers at Turner Classic Movies.
It's California in the 1980s, and—uh-oh!—you're outsmarted or caught doing something stupid and someone else says, "Ooooooooooo, moded!" This Schadenfreudian slip of an expression was sometimes accompanied by a chin-stroking gesture, or elaborated still further as "Moded, corroded, your booty exploded!" Grant has the goods on this expression's likely origin. Check out his entry for it—and the comments of people who know the term—at his dictionary site.
In a previous episode, a caller sought a classy term for a worker in the meat section of a cheese shop, something a little more sophisticated than, say, meatmonger. The helpful suggestions from listeners keep rolling in, and Grant and Martha share a few. Wait, did they really suggest carncierge and meatre d'?
Quiz Guy Greg Pliska drops in with a word game called "False Opposites." They're pairs of words whose prefixes, suffixes, and other elements make them appear to be opposites, even though they're not. For example, what seeming opposites might be derived from the clues "forward motion" and "American legislative body"? Feel free to weigh the pros and cons of your answer.
Navy veterans will recognize the two-fingered gesture that looks as if someone's turning an invisible doorknob. It accompanies the order turn to, meaning "get to work." How did this handy expression get started?
If you appropriate something that no one else seems to be using, you may be said to kipe that object. A Wisconsin caller remembers kiping things as a youngster, like a neighbor's leftover wood to build a fort. Grant discusses this regionalism and its possible origins.
Is there a distinction to be made between envy and jealousy? The hosts try to parse out the difference.
Grant gives a brief review of the new third edition of Paul Dickson's The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, all 974 pages and 4.5 pounds of it.
To some folks, they're thermals. To others, they're long underwear. And some folks call them long johns. Are these warm undergarments named after some guy called John?
If your car's broken down you might say it's banjaxed, especially if you're in Ireland. A caller who grew up in Dublin is curious about the word.
Martha and Grant revisit the "apple core, Baltimore" game they discussed a few episodes ago. Many listeners learned it from this Donald Duck cartoon.
How do you pronounce the word llama? A caller who learned in school that Spanish ll is pronounced like English y thinks it's a mistake to pronounce this animal's name as LAH-ma. Is he correct?
...
A Way with Words is sponsored by Mozy:
re: Grant's disdain of the mispronunciation of St. Louis as St. Louie
I'm from Vineland, NJ. I was born here and have lived here all my life. Portions of the novel and movie "Eddie and the Cruisers" take place here. In the movie, the character of "Wordman" says that he's been a high school teacher in "VineLAND" (putting the emphasis on the second syllable and pronouncing that second part as you might in the place name "Disneyland"), which grates on my nerves since residents would pronounce it more like "VINElind" or "VINElund" (putting the emphasis on the first syllable and pronouncing the second syllable as you might in the country names "Scotland" or "Ireland").
Didn't know that, BFIrrera. I'll be sure not to make that faux pas if I'm ever over that way. Thanks!
Grant,
During this episode you referred to Maeve, the caller originally from Dublin, as an ex-pat Brit. Is it proper to refer to someone from the Republic of Ireland as a Brit? The Republic was never part of Great Britain and hasn't been part of the Commonwealth since 1949.
Right, it only applies if she is from Northern Ireland, which I do not know. Thanks for the correction.