Carolyn in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been teaching her grandchildren some conventional French gestures to tease their grandfather. She’s using the book Beaux Gestes: A Guide to French Body Talk (Bookshop|Amazon) by renowned French scholar Laurence Wylie, with photographs by Rick Stafford. For example, pointing to one’s eye, or even using a finger to pull down one’s lower eyelid, and saying Mon oeil! expresses doubt or refusal to acknowledge what’s been said. This is part of a complete episode.
It’s hard to remember how to spell the names of some cities. Tallahassee, Florida, for example. Then there are towns with very few letters to remember. Y, a tiny town in northern France, has only two main streets, which come together to form...
On a busy day in the emergency room, Alisa of Dallas, Texas, told an efficient colleague that she was really humming, meaning it as a compliment. Her colleague took offense, maintaining that humming meant “smelly.” Since the 18th...
Subscribe to the fantastic A Way with Words newsletter!
Martha and Grant send occasional messages with language headlines, event announcements, linguistic tidbits, and episode reminders. It’s a great way to stay in touch with what’s happening with the show.
