Whoever wrote "The Book of Love" neglected to include the handy emoticon <3, which looks like a heart if you turn your head sideways. Grant and Martha talk about how that bit of affectionate shorthand can function as a verb, and about the antiquated words for "kiss," osculate and exosculate.
This episode first aired February 13, 2010. Listen here:
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A Houston woman says her family makes fun of her for saying “waste not, want not.†Does this proverb make literal sense?
BTDubs, a San Diego caller notices that more of her co-workers are talking in text, saying things like "BRB" instead of "Be right back" or "JK" instead of "Just kidding!" Is it a passing fad, or a new way of speaking?
Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah… MmmmmWAH! Martha shares the German verb that means to plant one last kiss in a series of them.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a fill-in-the-blank limerick puzzle, including:
There was once a coed named Clapper
In psychology class quite a napper.
But her Freudian dreams
Were so classic it seems
That now she's a __________________.
"I feel more like I do now than I did a while ago." The hosts discuss that and other examples of self-referential humor, like "Before I begin speaking, I'd like to say something."
A woman having an affair with a married man is a mistress. So what's the word for an unmarried man who's having an affair with a married woman? Consort? Leman?
Martha shares the famous passage from the poem by Catullus that begins, "Give me a thousand kisses…" Grant reads an excerpt from the 1883 volume, "The Love Poems of Louis Barnaval," by Charles de Kay.
What's the difference between a second cousin and a cousin once removed? Here's a helpful chart from Genealogy.com.
What did the boy volcano say to the girl volcano?
A caller from Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, wonders about the origin of "knock on wood." The hosts do, too. More about the unusual language of Ocracoke here.
What's a scissorbill? A bird? A hog? And how did its name get transferred to refer to anyone who's lazy or ineffectual?
I listened to the begining of this episode while at work this morning and you reminded me a a Foxtrot that my wife put on the fridge a few weeks ago.
I have been known to drop the "I lessthanthree you" to my wife
From Foxtrot
In response to the question of a name for the lover of a married woman in the Valentine's Day episode, there is an Italian word called "cicisbeo". He was the professed gallant and lover of a married woman, who attended her at public entertainments, to church and other occasions and had privileged access to his mistress. Although the origin is unknown it may have come from a translation of "in a whisper" or an inversion of bel cece which means "beautiful chick (pea)". There is a similar word in Spanish (cortejo or estrecho) and in French petit-maître, but I think the Italian may be closer to the intention of the caller. The exact etymology of the "cicisbeo" is unknown; some evidence suggests it originally meant "in a whisper" or an inversion of bel cece, which means "beautiful chick (pea)".
A Houston woman says her family makes fun of her for saying “waste not, want not.†Does this proverb make literal sense?
I just heard this one on the radio, and I think you missed a key point in your answer.
The expression "Waste not, want not" does not mean "Waste not, desire not," it means "Waste not, lack not."
Usually, we use the word "want" as a synonym for "desire" or "wish for." "I want candy" means "I would like to have candy." That is the fourth definition of "want" as a transitive verb in my 1961 M-W Collegiate. The expression "waste not, want not" is built on the first definition in my old dictionary (older than I am, at least): "To be without, to lack." It is a usage that seems to have become obsolete over the years. Perhaps we are more used to this definition of "want" when it is used intransitively with the preposition "for" (rather than transitively, without a preposition): "for want of a shoelace, the battle was lost" or, the example sentence in my dictionary, "he never wants for friends." Thus, we could say: "she does not want money" and mean either "she does not lack money" i.e. she is very rich, or "she does not desire money," i.e. she prefers the life of a starving artist.
Returning to "waste not, want not," it is a powerful moral message, but easily misunderstood by someone who only is familiar with the use of "want" as a synonym for "desire." It makes no sense at all to reprimand someone by saying, taking the example used on air, "Do not throw away these perfectly good shoes, or else you will not wish to wear them in the future." Instead, the expression needs to be understood as "Do not throw away these perfectly good shoes, or else you will not have any shoes to wear in the future."
Grant Barrett said:
"I feel more like I do now than I did a while ago." The hosts discuss that and other examples of self-referential humor, like "Before I begin speaking, I'd like to say something."
I first heard this one many years ago, as a quotation, supposedly by Dwight Eisenhower:
"Things are more like they are today than they have ever been before."
It's listed in several Internet quote databases, but without a verifiable citation. Still, it's always been one of my favorites. As presidential quotes go, another favorite is:
"When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results." –Calvin Coolidge