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Steal away!
Ya know, Martha, I didn't hear any humor in that caller's voice. I think her attitude really put a bee in my giddyup, that's for sure.
And I think the anti-moisters have an real physiological reaction to that word. Whether it's some form of synesthesia or something akin to that lady who went into seizures whenever she heard Mary Hart's voice on TV, I don't think there's anything they could ever do to change their situation.
The lady from Indianapolis just needed to chillax and it all could have worked out fine. It might have even been something they could laugh about as a couple in years to come.
Thanks for your wonderful show!
I was cringing listening to your Slang This! contestant for this week. Someone needs to teach the him not to mumble so much! And, most importantly, he should learn not to write about himself in the third person.
As for people misusing words -- not a pronunciation thing, but I had a friend from work that was always using "rugged" to mean "tired". After about a year of this, at one point he said the word and I looked up in amazement and exclaimed, "Hey, you used it correctly!"
I was meaning to post some Snakespeare titles, but since I'm just getting over being ill, and I just saw "Snow Angels" in the theater, perhaps I should pass on the one title coming to mind.
When I was growing up, my mother referred to my butt as a "po-po." That being the place where the "lumpies" come from.
"Expresso" bugs me too, but I suspect I might have a couple words that I chronically mispronounce, but no one has called me on them. One of my son's PCA's says "liberry" too. As well as mixing up some pronouns, I just can't remember which right now. I just hope my son doesn't catch on to them. He has autism, and has a very curious, intense, relationship with words. He is playful with them too. Once when he was 4 or 5, he read the word "notice" as "note-ice." When we corrected him (note-iss), he pondered it for a while, then started rattling off "iss-rink, iss-hockey, iss-cube" and a few other similar constructions. Then giggled.
shorthairedg said:
Did anyone else think “Nest Side Story” as the answer to one of the Snakespeare quiz questions before they heard “West Side Stork?”
Ooh...I like that. I wonder if there's yet a third option, changing a letter in "Side"?
Good alternate, shorthairedg - or can I call you shorthaired, for short?
Puzzle Guy
Grant Barrett said:
A caller is curious about the colloquial expression “it has a catch
in its getalong.” She used it to describe the family's
faulty car. Her husband complained the phrase was too imprecise. Grant
and Martha discuss this and similar expressions, like “hitch in its getalong”
and “hitch in its giddyup.”
This really rang a bell with me. I once worked with a woman who
came from the Caribbean who once asked me, “Could I show her how to
snatch a report out of the computer.” I remember being startled by her
phrasing thinking, “What an expressive concept!” Like I could reach
into a computer somehow and grab a report. Being a programmer, I knew
that was very far away from what it took to produce a report.
My only response was, "How poetic!"
"A Milwaukee man is mystified about the use of the word “neé” in his grandmother's obituary."
A very picky point: the acute accent should be on the first e: née.
The logic behind this is of course that né is the past participle/adjective of the French verb naître, and the extra "e" is added on for the feminine form. One never rarely sees "né" used in this sense in referene to man, since they don't generally change their names upon marriage - though I have seen it used to give the real name of someone know under a stage/pen name.
A related faux-pas that grates on me is when people say "divorcée" with the double e even when they refer to a man. Of course "divorcé" also exists and is the masculine form.
I have a funny anecdote about "espresso". It works the other way as well: once while I was travelling by overnight train from Munich to Rome, we pulled in to some northern Italian station at the crack of dawn. Half awake, I heard a loudspeaker on the platform announcing "Espresso", and I thought that some enterprising soul was selling espresso (vendors often do run alongside trains stopped in the station hawking their wares). It turns out, they were simply announcing the imminent departure of our train, the "espresso da Roma".
In Italian, the term for an express train is therefore the same as for the wonderful coffee (in Italy you don't even need to specify you want espresso - if you simply order coffee, it's what you get. You may need to specify if you want a lungo (long), ristretto (short), macchiato (with a little frothy milk), caffè latte (lots of milk), etc.)
An Indianapolis woman calls to say she a great first date with a doctor, but was horrified to hear him suggest they meet at an “expresso” shop. She asks for dating advice: Should she correct the guy, keep quiet about this mispronunciation, or just hope he never orders espresso again? Would you go out on a second date with someone who orders a cup of “EX-presso”?
In my travels in Europe, and particularly in France, I have heard and seen this word. The French, when not simply refering to this drink as "café" tend to say and even write in menus "expresso". In a way, this makes sense when thinking about the possible origin of the work "to press out"? (I'm guessing here...) from the latin "ex". Could this be a possible variation of the word?
I think so.
People often get bugged about others saying “expresso” instead of “espresso”, without really knowing that “x” is often rendered “ss” (or “s”) in Italian: viz., “sesso” (sex), “esultare” (exult), “lassativo” (laxative), etc. This is due to assimilation; two conjunct consonants “agreeing” (if you will) on a single phoneme; in this case /s/ (or /z/).
Yes, it ought to be pronounced “espresso”, but why is perhaps just as important. When in Rome…
I agree that “Expresso” is not now a word.
However, I propose that it be considered as a potential new entry in our lexicon.
"Espresso" should continue with its present definition, and should connote espresso made in the traditional way, with a burr grinder, a tamper, steam, a knock-box, and all the like accoutrements.
“Expresso” should connote “espresso” made using one of any number of “short cuts”, including pre-ground “Pods”, “all-in-one super-automatic” coffee machines, and possibly should connote even “espresso” ordered at a drive-through facility.
What do members of the assembled multitude think?
I'll take my answer off the air…
Puzzle Guy said:
shorthairedg said:
Did anyone else think “Nest Side Story” as the answer to one of the Snakespeare quiz questions before they heard “West Side Stork?”
Ooh…I like that. I wonder if there's yet a third option, changing a letter in “Side”?
Good alternate, shorthairedg - or can I call you shorthaired, for short?
Puzzle Guy
The birdwatchers observing this could be part of the "West Hide Story".
Allan J. W. said:
Very interesting to hear a person have such an intense aversion to ‘moist' - and a Facebook group? WOW.
Funny thing is my favorite words are ‘moist‘ and ‘nubbin‘. I'm not a big fan of ‘moister' - I'll say ‘more moist'. It's a sound thing for me.
Maybe it's like black licorice which I also love. Maybe ‘moist' is a word that polarizes people. Hmmmm.
She might not like two of Terry Pratchett's novels, “Going Postal” and “Making Money”, with their main character M… von Lipwig.
lister said:
Steal away!
Ya know, Martha, I didn't hear any humor in that caller's voice. I think her attitude really put a bee in my giddyup, that's for sure.
And I think the anti-moisters have an real physiological reaction to that word. Whether it's some form of synesthesia or something akin to that lady who went into seizures whenever she heard Mary Hart's voice on TV, I don't think there's anything they could ever do to change their situation.
The lady from Indianapolis just needed to chillax and it all could have worked out fine. It might have even been something they could laugh about as a couple in years to come.
Thanks for your wonderful show!
To Lister:
I have to, at least slightly, disagree with you about the use of a word like "Expresso" on a first date. I think that frequent slip-ups such as this point to a much larger problem, that could certainly play a large role in a relationship: a general lack of attention to detail. I have to admit that "expresso" especially gets under my skin, but it is really the kind of person that can repeatedly mispronounce words without ever taking the time or putting in the effort to learn the proper way. So, I would agree with you that one minor slip-up is no reason to go running for the hills...BUT, I would see numerous "slip-ups" as a sign of bigger things to come!!
I know I'm coming into this more than a year and a half late, but just in case anybody else show up here:
Particularly where language is concerned, people are very quick to criticize others, to say that what is strange to them is wrong. I'm guilty of this myself, and I'm trying to break myself of it. Dear friends, please check before you declare your righteousness. Expresso is a variant of espresso, according to (blast, I forgot to count) at least seven or eight online dictionaries. The first shops to dispense the beverage in the town that I grew up, back in the 50s, had neon signs which proclaimed EXPRESSO. I remember being shocked the first time I saw espresso, sure that someone had wasted money on a misspelled sign.
That poor doctor wasn't wrong or guilty of inattention; he was just in the minority. Last I checked, that's not a crime.
Peter
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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