There's a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time—feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, "What the heck does that mean?" and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just that effect on them: ucalegon and cacoethes scribendi.
This episode first aired April 12, 2008.
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A recent college graduate from Portland, Oregon, calls to ask about a term popular on her campus. She and her classmates use sketchy to mean "creepy, shady, possibly dangerous," as in "a sketchy part of town" or "that sketchy guy over there." Grant and Martha discuss this term and how it lends itself to such variations as Sketchyville and Sketchy McSketcherson.
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Martha discusses another word she happily tripped over in the dictionary: spanghew.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski tries to stump the hosts with a puzzle called Cryptic Crosswords. How about this one: "Do-re-mi-fa follower + sneaker feature = comfort.”
Why are cave explorers called spelunkers? How do you pronounce the word? A naturalist at Mystery Cave in Minnesota wants to know and in return she tells us how to tell a stalactite from a stalagmite.
A listener from Texas heard an NPR report from Asia in which an interpreter translated a speaker's words into English as a whole new ball game. He wants to know if that's a literal translation from an Asian language, and if so, is it a reference to baseball or some other sport?
Grant shares a strange word from the fringes of English: mofussil.
This week's "Slang This!" contestant is asked to guess the meanings of the slang terms gauge and head-up.
A California caller is curious about the words Shia and Shiite. Is there difference between them or are they interchangeable?
A Michigan woman working a study-abroad program at a large university is bemused by the many applicants who write that they want to study overseas so they can be "submerged in the culture." She thinks there's a difference between "immersed" and "submerged" but wants to be sure.
Are more and more people talking about standing behind a podium? A San Diegan says the traditional rule has been that one stands behind a lectern and stands on a podium. Has this traditional rule changed?
A listener from Texas heard an NPR report from Asia in which an interpreter translated a speaker's words into English as a whole new ball game. He wants to know if that's a literal translation from an Asian language, and if so, is it a reference to baseball or some other sport?
Well, they do have baseball in Asia. Japan, of course, has had professional baseball for a long time, and they competed in (and won) the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, along with Korea, Taiwan and China. (I was glad to see that, since Japan hasn't forgotten how to play "small ball" and doesn't rely on the home run so much -- I wish American baseball would return to that.) The current major league baseball season even started with the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics playing a couple regular season games in the Tokyo Dome, playing a couple exhibition games against Japanese teams beforehand. The Dodgers and the Padres also played a couple exhibition games in China during spring training.
So, with baseball in Asia, I'm wondering if it might have been more than the interpreter substituting one idiom for another? Could the saying have been imported along with the game of baseball?
On a similar note, being from Minnesota originally, I'm a Twins fan, but, living in Wisconsin now, I have to listen to the radio broadcasts of the games online. This year, the Twins Radio Network has been airing commercials that provide the origin & meaning of some of the many idioms, sayings, jargon words, etc., associated with baseball. (They're some of those commercials that present themselves as "mini-programs" of a sort. They start with an introduction of the phrase, providing a "cliffhanger" while they give their commercial blurb, and then they proceed to explain the jargon's origin & meaning. Is there a term for this type of "mini-program" commercial? I think they're mainly heard on radio.) A couple phrases they've featured: getting "caught in the cooking jar" means that a batter checked his swing, but not soon enough to avoid being called for a strike, and "around the horn," i.e., throwing the ball around the bases (such as during a double play) comes from going around Cape Horn, i.e., "the long way." At least, that's what they said in the commercials. If you have better information, chime in!
Oops! of course, that should be “caught in the cookie jar” -- I've been "caught in the cookie jar" when it comes to spelling -- my browser's spell checker wouldn't have caught that one!
I don't want to toot my own horn BUT… it was my birthday on the 11th, which day I turned 31! Wow! I was surprised to hear someone else turning 31 around the same time as I did and call in to the world's greatest word show! What a coincidence!
As for me, I feel no odium for “podium”. I know about the foot root in the word but think of all the misnomers already in English. “Grape-Nuts” consist of neither grapes nor nuts. A “Guinea pig” is neither a pig nor is it from Guinea. A “hedgehog” is not a hog. A “jackrabbit” is not a rabbit. “Scotland Yard” is not in Scotland. Feline innards do not constitute “catgut”. A “blackboard” is not black. “Rush hour” often moves at a snail's pace. And this one from Wikipedia:
The band Barenaked Ladies consists entirely of clothed men.
(Kind of sounds like something from Ripley's Believe it or Not!) Oh, and the “Jerusalem artichoke” is neither an artichoke nor is it from Jerusalem. Etc., etc., etc.
And speaking of Believe it or Not!, believe it or not, “spelunker” is now usu. considered derogatory among “cavers”. Who'd-a thunk?!
This mnemonic for the difference between stalactite and stalagmite has always worked for me:
Think of "c" for "ceiling" in stalactite, and "g" for "ground" in "stalagmite."