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

Hey, ho, let's go! Another newsletter from A Way with Words is here.

We kick off the year-end "word of the year" season with an episode about them, in which we offer a few of our own candidates: "Joe the" (as in "Joe the Plumber" and "Joe the Biden"), "bailout," "staycation," and "hockey mom."

Plus, we talked about "buckaroo," "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," "comprised of," and "jive turkey."

Listen here:

https://waywordradio.org/a-year-of-words/

We'll have more about our "word of the year" nominations in the coming weeks in our online-only minicasts, starting next week.

We're still looking for your candidates. What word became frequently used in 2008 and has so far most captured the essence of 2008 for you? Let us know! A discussion is in progress here:

http://tinyurl.com/65m6zq

We are pleased to be featured on the front of the iTunes Music store during the last week and would like to welcome all of our new podcast listeners. We know you're there because we've been getting your email (and seeing our stats spike!).

By the way, those of you who've been listening since Podcasting Day One--your upbeat reviews and high ratings in the iTunes podcast directory have already brought us to the attention of even more listeners. The effect continues to be compounding, as more listeners steadily bring in more listeners.

If you're a podcast-listener who hasn't left a review, please take a moment to do it now. This link will first open your browser and then take you right to the iTunes page for our show:

http://tinyurl.com/wayword-itunes

If you do leave us a review, please let us know so we can thank you personally.

Elsewhere, journalist Mark Peters has taken a look at the prefix "celebu-" in a column for "Good" magazine, following up on his contribution to an article by David West Brown, a lecturer at the University of Michigan, in the linguistics journal American Speech.

http://www.good.is/?p=13385

Check the right sidebar of the page for more language columns by Mark.

We've been meaning to add to our web site a list of other language-related radio shows. There aren't many, but there are some that we listen to religiously.

"The World in Words," hosted by Patrick Cox and produced by Public Radio International's "The World," continues to be a favorite. We mentioned it in this newsletter in June, but Patrick and the gang have been trying to spread the word about their show and we're glad to oblige our Boston compatriots. The show is a smart mix of bits from the archive, from the BBC, and new interviews.

Find out more here:

http://patrickcox.wordpress.com/

That's all, folks.

With thanks and thank-yous,

Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett
Co-hosts of A Way with Words
https://waywordradio.org

Call or write with your language questions 24 hours a day:
(877) WAY-WORD
(877) 929-9673
words@waywordradio.org