Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Greetings, all!

In our most recent show, we talk about great words for Scrabble, plus "madcap" comedy, mondegreens, "No way, Jose!" "hubba hubba," and the name of that flourish underneath John Hancock's John Hancock. Listen:

https://waywordradio.org/qi-qat-za/

First, our hearts go out all who are suffering in Japan.

Within hours of the quake, Nick Kristof, former Tokyo bureau chief for the New York Times, blogged about some relevant Japanese expressions, including the hard-to-translate "gaman":

http://nyti.ms/eo8q4o

We've often talked about the ways technology is changing the way we read. Here's another. That old advice about keeping your resume to just one page? It may be obsolete.

As U.S. News & World Report notes, "Reading onto a second page now means scrolling down on a computer screen rather than actually turning a piece of paper. And job seekers have more than the human reader to consider; resumes are now at the mercy of computerized applicant-tracking systems. Those databases search not only for keywords, but for frequency of keywords."

More about the "One Page or Two?" debate:

http://bit.ly/hxef5Q

What do you think? Pop over to our Facebook page and tell us.

https://facebook.com/waywordradio

Speaking of dead-tree media, the work of Atlanta artist Brian Dettmer may make book lovers squeamish at first. Dettmer, a.k.a. "The Book Surgeon," seals the edges of illustrated books, then uses knives, tweezers, and surgical tools to cut into them, exposing layers of pages and images.

But the results are stunning. Check them out:

http://bit.ly/eOicoL

Also stunning is this brief video, in which Dettmer muses about books, language, and what he calls "endangered analog media."

Did we mention Dettmer's work is stunning?

Bookishly yours,

Martha and Grant
Co-hosts of "A Way with Words"
https://waywordradio.org
words@waywordradio.org

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