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

Talk It Up: Damon Runyon's guys and dolls. Adam Gopnik writes in The New Yorker: "Runyon's key insight into American slang is double: first, that street speech tends to be more, not less, complicated grammatically than 'standard' speech; but, second, that slang speakers, when they're cornered to write, write not just fancy but stiff. In prime Runyon, the two sounds—street ornate and fountain-pen formal—run together into a single argot and beautiful endless sentences: 'This Meyer Marmalade is really a most superior character, who is called Meyer Marmalade because nobody can ever think of his last name, which is something like Marmalodowski, and he is known far and wide for the way he likes to make bets on any sporting proposition, such as baseball, or horse races, or ice hockey, or contests of skill and science, and especially contests of skill and science.'"