If someone calls you dibby, should you be flattered or insulted? You’d know if you were in college a century ago—it’s outdated college slang! Also, we are voluntold to play a word puzzle about Unknown Superheroes! This episode first aired May 17, 2008.
Transcript of “Give It the Old College Slang”
[MUSIC] >> You’re listening to A Way with Words, I’m Martha Barnette.
>> And I’m Grant Barrett.
You know, Martha, I was flipping through some old issues of dialect notes.
It was started more than 100 years ago.
It’s long since ceased publication, but while it lasted, it collected word lists and glossaries and language from around the country.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> People would report from all quarters and all corners of the things that people said and the words they used.
In there are collections of college slang and high school slang.
And what’s really interesting about this stuff is how much of it lasts.
But even more interesting is how much of it doesn’t last.
A lot of this language simply doesn’t endure.
And if I gave you some of these words, you wouldn’t know what I was talking about.
>> Oh, yeah?
Try me.
>> [LAUGH] All right.
If I called somebody a dub, what am I saying about them?
D-U-B, dub.
>> A dub?
It doesn’t sound very positive, whatever it is.
A screw up?
Or somebody- >> Yeah, a foolish person.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah, it’s pretty good, yeah.
It does sound like it should be a mean somebody who doesn’t have their act together, right?
>> Yeah.
>> That word was collected in New Mexico and California.
Again, about 100 years ago.
Here’s another one.
If I said that somebody was Dibby, what would I be saying about them?
Or if I said that the weather was Dibby, what would I be saying about them?
D-I-B-B-Y.
>> Dibby, I have no idea.
When I think of Dibby, I think of a little baby or something with little fat rolls.
>> It simply means fine.
And I’ve kind of chosen these two words because one’s negative and one’s positive.
And this is one of the places where slang is most productive, coming up with words to indicate that something’s bad or indicate that something’s good.
But you and I don’t know Dibby.
And we might have used it if we were Brooklyn schoolgirls 100 years ago, which that’s where it was collected.
But it’s gone.
Like a lot of the slang, it just went poof and disappeared.
Some of the stuff stays, though. 100 years ago, you could still call a woman a babe and say, boy, isn’t she a babe, meaning that she’s very attractive. >> 100 years ago. >> 100 years ago.
Who knew it was that old, right?
Anyway, I had a good time reading this stuff and I thought you would appreciate it.
>> I love it.
It was Dibby.
Did I use that correctly?
>> Very Dibby, yes.
You’re no dub.
>> Thank you.
Well, if you’d like to talk about slang or grammar or pronunciation or old sayings or new acquaintances, regional dialects, you name it, give us a call.
The number’s 1-877-929-9673.
>> Or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
>> Hi, this is Victoria De Leon from McAllen, Texas.
>> All right.
>> McAllen, hello.
What’s going on in Texas?
>> I have a question for you, something that’s bugged me for most of my adult life.
Let me give you a little bit of history on this.
Back when I was about 12 or 13, I think I picked up one of my grandmother’s reader’s digest or something, and there was an article in there that talked about words that are, let me see, they’re relabeled after a new form of that product is invented.
Let me give you an example.
Television, when it was first invented, was simply television or TV.
Everybody had a TV.
But when color TV was invented, they had to go back and relabel the first one black and white TV.
So black and white didn’t exist until color TV existed.
The same thing with an acoustic guitar.
An acoustic guitar didn’t exist until an electric guitar was invented.
Before then it was simply a guitar.
>> Now they’re air guitars.
>> Exactly.
>> So you’re calling about this phenomenon then.
>> Yes sir, and actually they had about 30 to 40 more of these words, and there was a term, like a collective term for all of those words.
>> The word that you’re looking for is retronym.
>> Retronym?
>> Yep, R-E-T-R-O-N-Y-M, retronym.
And it’s been used to describe this phenomenon since at least 1980.
As a matter of fact, one of the first people we know to use this word, and perhaps the first, was a former president of National Public Radio, Frank Mankiewicz.
>> Yeah.
>> I mean, he was quoted by William Safire in one of his On Language columns in the New York Times Magazine in 1980, talking about this phenomenon.
And you’ve mentioned some of the classic retronyms.
>> Okay.
>> The acoustic guitar one is one that’s almost always brought up when this is discussed in the language books.
>> Yeah, another one of my favorites lately is bar soap.
>> Bar soap?
>> Yeah.
>> As opposed to liquid soap, huh?
>> Yeah.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah, all of a sudden everybody’s using liquid soap.
>> What else do we have here?
Silent movies, where all movies were silent in the beginning, and they didn’t come to be called silent movies until The Talkies came around, right?
>> Okay.
>> Well, how about this one, you two?
How about World War I?
>> Oh, great one.
>> Yeah, so the list goes on and on, they’re great fun to collect.
>> They are, and I haven’t exactly started a pencil and paper list, if you will.
I just kind of keep them in my head.
>> -huh, -huh.
>> If you Google the term retronym, you’ll come up with some list that other people have made, but I have no doubt at all that they’re incomplete and you could probably add plenty to them.
>> Okay, well, thank you.
>> Sure thing.
It’s interesting that you say paper and pencil list.
I mean, what other kind of thing, you know?
>> Instead of a Wiki list or a palm pile list.
>> To tell you the truth, I now make all my lists on my palm pile list.
>> On your palm or your palm pile list?
>> Yes, my palm pile list.
>> Okay.
I didn’t know if you were writing on your skin or what.
>> No, no.
>> Victoria, thank you so much for your call.
I’m glad we were able to help you.
>> Well, thank you very much.
>> All right, best of luck.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Well, if you have a favorite retronym, give us a call.
The number’s 1-877-9299673, or email us.
The address is words@waywordradio.org.
>> Hello, you have A Way with Words.
>> Hi, this is Brian Pollack from Cincinnati, Ohio.
>> Yes, it’s Brian.
>> Hi, Brian.
>> Hi.
>> Hi.
>> What’s going on in Cincinnati?
>> Well, I have a question about a word I’ve heard at work a couple times.
And the word is “volun-told.”
>> Volun-told, how are you spelling that?
>> V-O-L-U-N-T-O-L-D.
>> Okay.
>> And it’s used kind of exactly the same way as the word “volunteered.”
But it would be used, for instance, if someone was at a fundraiser event, and you say, “Oh, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” and you say, “Oh, my boss ‘volun-told’ me.”
>> Nice.
>> Right, right.
>> Nice.
>> Where do you work that you hear that?
>> I work at a camp, it’s a non-profit camp, and so there’s a lot of things where we are volunteered to do fundraisers and things like that.
But my suspicion is actually that it’s probably a military word, I was wondering if I was on the right track.
>> Oh, yes.
Yes, definitely.
When I think of this expression, I think of the commanding officer in front of his troops going, “I need three volunteers to clean up the nuclear waste, you, you, and you!”
And the thing is, there’s no hand-raising there.
He’s just picking three people and that’s that, right?
That’s what we’re talking about?
>> Right.
>> Because when you do volunteer work for a not-for-profit, you still have a boss.
There is still somebody telling you what to do, and there’s a certain kind of patina of politeness there that maybe you wouldn’t encounter in a normal workplace, but somebody’s telling you what to do, so you are actually being voluntold.
>> That’s hilarious.
So is that military?
Original?
>> Yeah, as far as I know, it is.
It’s very common in the Marines.
The earliest use that I know of is from 1996, which is way too recent.
I’m betting it’s from at least the ’60s, but there’s no way to prove that.
I haven’t seen it in print any earlier than that, though.
>> All right.
Well, Marines make sense.
There are a couple of Marines that work at the camp that I work at, and those are the guys that I heard first using the term.
>> Aha!
>> There we go.
>> Aha!
>> Well, nice.
That came together, didn’t it?
>> Yeah.
All right.
Thanks a lot.
>> Okay.
Well, thanks for your call, Brian.
What kind of camp is this?
Is this for kids or summer camp?
>> Yeah.
It’s an outdoor education camp and a summer camp.
It’s actually a YMCA summer camp and outdoor education.
>> Do you teach the city kids not to be afraid of bears?
>> Pretty much, yeah.
>> All right.
Well, thanks for your call, Brian.
Have a great summer.
>> Yep.
You too.
Thanks a lot.
>> All right.
Bye-bye.
>> Okay.
Bye-bye.
>> Bye.
>> Voluntold.
>> Voluntold.
>> I love that.
>> There’s no end to the sack of slang that the soldiers bring to the language.
None at all.
>> That sack of slang.
I love that.
>> They keep churning it out.
>> Yeah.
>> If you’ve got a question about grammar, usage, punctuation, spelling, send it on.
We’d like to hear it, 1-877-929-9673 or send us an email, words@waywordradio.org.
>> Hi.
You have A Way with Words.
>> Yes.
Hello.
This is Kathleen Weinbergs.
>> Hi, Kathleen.
Where are you calling from?
>> I’m calling from San Diego.
>> Welcome.
>> Well, hello.
What’s on your mind today, Kathleen?
>> What I want to know is the origin of the expression, “You’re the apple of my eye.”
>> Well, I can tell you, Kathleen, this phrase is really old.
I mean, it is one of the oldest expressions that I’ve come across in English.
It goes all the way back to at least the ninth century.
>> Oh, my goodness.
>> And the answer is pretty simple.
Centuries ago, people assumed that the pupil of your eye was actually this little hard, round object, kind of like an apple.
>> Oh, my goodness.
>> They didn’t notice that it changed size?
>> Well, I guess, you know, growing, I didn’t think about that.
But there’s been, Kathleen, in many languages, including English, a long tradition of connecting one’s eye with something that is really cherished, something that’s really treasured.
And so metaphorically, that part of your eye, the pupil, is something that you treasure, and that got applied to other things that you cherish, like a person.
>> Oh, that’s very sweet.
That’s very nice.
>> Isn’t that lovely?
>> Yes, it is.
Wow.
>> Well, you’re the new apple of our eye, right, Grant?
>> Thank you very much.
>> Yes, absolutely.
>> Thank you so much for your show.
>> All right.
>> You’re welcome.
Thank you for calling, Kathleen.
>> Thank you.
>> All right.
Bye now.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Grant, there’s so much to say about all this.
>> Well, Spill, we got time.
>> Well, you know, speaking about the pupil of your eye, the pupil is so named because of the Latin word pupilla, which meant little doll or puppet, because, you know, when you look up close at somebody’s eyes, you can see this little image of yourself.
Isn’t that fabulous?
I love it.
I love it.
And, in fact, the Hebrew term that the King James is translating, it translates literally as little man, the little man in your eye.
One other thing to say about this, Grant, that you’ll appreciate, you know, the French word for pupil, the pupil of the eye.
>> I don’t actually know that word.
>> It’s prunelle.
Little plum.
>> Little plum.
There we go.
>> Little plum.
Isn’t that great?
>> Mm—
That looks very nice.
>> Oh, and Kathleen is a kindred spirit.
Love it, love it, love it.
The world apparently is filled with them.
They keep calling.
>> I know.
And you can, too.
Call 1-877-929-9673 or email us.
What’s that address, Grant?
>> The email address is words@waywordradio.org, and you can drop by our discussion forum at waywordradio.org and tell the whole world what’s on your mind.
>> Hey, Grant, you remember the conversation we had a while back about playful nicknames for one’s hometown?
Like San Diego is sometimes called Sun Diego with good reason, of course.
>> Yes, indeed.
I do remember that.
Somebody reminded me that St.
Louis is called the Gateway City or St.
Louis.
>> Oh, yeah.
Gateway to the west.
Well, we asked you for your hometown nicknames, and we got some great ones from a woman in Canada named Giselle Da Silva.
She lives in Vancouver, and she sent us a number of nicknames for Vancouver, one of which I loved was Vansterdam.
She says by far the best known and most widely used, thanks to Vancouver’s well-earned reputation for the availability and quality of a certain recreational substance.
Grant, what could she possibly be talking about?
>> Van high top shoes.
Van’s high top shoes, right?
>> I don’t think so.
I don’t think so.
>> She had several others, including Hollywood North.
She points out that on film, Vancouver has doubled for almost every major city in North America, including Vancouver.
It’s one of their biggest industries there.
And following up on that, she says that bearing in mind that the word Brawley means umbrella, her own favorite nickname for Vancouver is Brawleywood.
I love that.
Well, if you have something you’d like to share with us, call us any time, eh?
The number’s 1-877-929-9673.
>> Or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.
>> Up next on “A Way with Words,” it’s a word puzzle, and we’ll take more of your calls.
You’re listening to “A Way with Words.”
I’m Martha Barnette.
>> And I’m Grant Barrett, and we’re joined once again by that wacky, that crazy, that nutty quiz guy, John Chonesky.
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hey.
>> What’s up?
What’s up, buddy?
How are the kids?
>> Good.
The kids are just great.
>> You have the loveliest children I think I’ve ever seen, except for my own.
>> Oh, thank you.
Yes.
I’d say the three of them together comprise the most beautiful children in the world.
>> When you’re in public, do you do like I do?
You just like face them in certain directions so they can cast their glow over the world and make it good?
>> Oh, sure.
Yeah.
>> Right?
And whatever they’re facing, like, blossoms, right?
>> It’s so sweet to show my children to the world and let them spread happiness.
>> I assume you’ve come here to spread happiness.
>> Yes, I’ve come to spread happiness by way of puzzles and quizzes, my speciality.
And here we go.
As you guys know, I’m a big fan of comics.
While I read and recommend the mature artistic version of the medium, you know, the work of Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Alison Bechdel, I still enjoy the fanboy stuff, that is the men in tights, good guys versus bad guys, save the world stuff.
Anyway.
Which is why while reading my dictionary, as any good word boy should do daily, I discovered a whole treasure trove of heretofore unknown superheroes.
>> -oh.
>> Yeah.
>> Wow.
>> For example, I discovered a hero who can instantly keep any ship or other seagoing vessel from moving.
Do you know his name?
>> Anchorman.
>> Anchorman.
That’s right.
>> Oh, I get it.
Anchorman.
>> Anchorman.
>> Oh, no.
>> Do you know what his alter ego does?
>> Host the news?
>> He reads the news on TV.
That’s right.
>> All right.
>> So now we have a superhero and his name and his alter ego.
>> Okay.
>> I like his alter ego.
>> I’ll give you the powers.
You tell me their superhero names.
If you need it, I’ll tell you what the alter ego does as an additional clue.
We’ll see.
>> Yeah, we tend to need those.
Keep those ready.
>> I’ll keep them in my back pocket.
Here we go.
Flying in with superheroes.
This hero can, with mind-numbing speed, put together furniture from Ikea, all without losing a single nut or bolt.
>> And does he also serve as a politician in the state — >> His alter ego is a also — >> At the state level, he’s an assemblyman.
>> Assemblyman.
>> Assemblyman can assemble furniture from Ikea, which moving to a new house, I could certainly use assemblyman’s help.
I wish I had the signal watch for assemblyman.
>> Assemblyman to the rescue.
>> Now this hero can perform any dance to perfection, but he specializes in the bump, the hustle, and other dances from the disco era.
>> Oh.
No.
It’s not the Walkman.
>> No.
Not Walkman.
No.
>> Did I just ruin one of your answers?
>> No, no, not at all.
No.
Now this hero’s alter ego, sorry to say, likes to hide in closets and scare children.
>> Oh, the Boogeyman.
>> Boogeyman, okay, here’s the next one.
>> This is good.
>> Thanks.
Now this one’s a little tricky.
He has the unusual ability of being able to eliminate the barriers between any two yards, privates, pickets, chain link, none of these can stand in his way.
>> Well, we’re talking about fences, right?
>> Right.
>> Okay.
>> His alter ego plays near the goalie on the Manchester United football team.
>> Defense man?
>> Defense man.
>> No.
Really?
>> Yes.
I went there.
I did.
>> Crivates?
This was just a clue there was a British.
>> And I followed you.
>> It was still.
And you followed me there.
That’s right.
>> All right.
>> I did.
>> Okay.
Here’s the next one.
>> Yes.
>> This hero can take any food item that is past its expiration date, send it back through time and make it edible again.
His alter ego is in his first year at NYU.
>> Fresh man.
>> Fresh man.
>> Oh, my gosh.
>> Yum.
>> God.
>> This one is also kind of tricky.
This hero is useful if you’re missing one of your shoes.
He can miraculously find the other one no matter where it may be.
>> Gout boy.
Is it something?
Boy.
We need a boy here.
Where’s the sidekicks here?
>> If you’re missing any one of two things, he can find the other one.
>> Because he’s a footman?
>> You’re close.
>> Footman?
It’s not footman?
>> No.
>> It was a pair.
And now it needs to be a pair again.
>> Repairman.
>> Repairman.
>> Repairman.
>> His alter ego fixes Maytag washing machine.
So he has a lot of time to be a superhero.
>> Right.
To be a superhero.
Yeah.
>> Because Maytag washing machines don’t take a lot of repairmen.
Okay.
And on that note, up, up and away.
Goodbye, Gran.
>> Goodbye, Martha.
>> Goodbye, John.
>> That is my superhero quiz for today.
>> Thank you, Super John.
Thank you, Chrisman.
>> Who was that mess quiz guy?
>> Any comic books that are created as a result of this quiz, I retain the rights.
FYI.
>> All right.
Thank you so much, John.
>> Thank you, Gran.
Thank you, Martha.
>> If you would like to get on the air with a question about grammar, punctuation, slang, jargon, or what have you, we’re the people to call 1-877-929-9673.
Or send us an e-mail to words@waywordradio.org.
[ Music ] >> Here we come to save the day.
Hello.
You have A Way with Words.
>> Hello.
>> Hi.
Who is this?
>> Hi.
This is Schmidt calling from Oakland, California.
>> What’s on your mind today, Schmidt?
>> Oh, I got a question.
I had a friend of mine in college who had all these rather crass colloquialisms that he picked up from his father.
They’re wonderful.
A lot of them I can’t really say on the radio.
But you know, I picked up on them, and I used to go around saying them for years.
And one in particular was — is a way of describing, I guess, an unattractive woman.
And he would say, she’s got a face that could gag a maggot off a gut wagon.
>> Gag a maggot off a gut wagon?
>> Ew.
>> Yeah.
You could pair it, I guess, both ways and make gender equity, but for some reason I can only think of guys saying this.
So the question I had actually was, for years, you know, I was — this phrase has been going through my head, and I always just figured the gut wagon was just for effect, you know.
Everything seems to be rooted somewhere.
So I thought, is there an actual gut wagon, and why?
>> -huh.
Is there a story behind the expression gut wagon?
Yes, there is, and probably those of you who are eating breakfast right now might want to either turn down the radio or just reach for the crunchiest thing on your plate and crunch for a little bit while we explain, because it is pretty gross.
Are you ready, Shumit?
>> Yeah, I think so.
>> Okay.
Yes, a gut wagon is an actual thing.
It’s a wagon or truck that hauls the carcasses of dead farm stock.
>> Okay.
>> So a gut wagon is a pretty gross thing, and if you’re a maggot on a gut wagon, then you have a pretty strong stomach, so if somebody’s got a face that could gag a maggot, not just any maggot, but a maggot on a gut wagon, that’s quite a face.
>> Oh, boy.
Thanks for that, I think.
>> Thanks for that, I think.
>> Shumit, one thing about the gut wagon, it’s actually not that common a vehicle.
You’re not going to find these on every block in town.
>> Thank goodness.
>> These days with farm culture basically being managed by the big corporations, it’s just the kind of thing that’s almost passed completely into colloquialism, and you’ll find it used as a comparison device in a lot of colorful expressions.
So there are a couple that I know.
Are you ready for these?
None of them are as gross as what we’ve been talking about, but you can say that somebody stinks so bad that they would stink a dog off a gut wagon in a dead faint.
>> Oh, that’s excellent.
>> Or the inverse to what your friend said, you could say a woman is so fine that the men were after her like buzzards after a gut wagon.
So you’ll find it in literature and in newspapers over the last, what, 100 plus years, Martha?
Quite a while.
>> At least back to the 1920s, yeah.
>> People using it as a kind of device because it’s something so extreme, it’s so filthy and disgusting that it’s kind of like a marking point of things being better than that or things being worse than that and actually causing a very positive or very negative reaction in people.
One of my favorite ones though, Shumit, I’ve got a bunch of these, but this is the last one I’ll tell you about.
>> Are you enjoying this, Shumit?
>> Not really.
It’s informative.
>> Oh, yeah.
Well, yeah, pretty much everyone says that about our show.
One last one.
He says, “I knew him when he was nobody and had nothing.
He couldn’t flag down a gut wagon,” which is kind of saying he couldn’t get the attention of anyone.
So I like that one.
>> Excellent.
Thank you for that.
Love your show.
>> Thank you so much for calling, Shumit.
>> Still?
>> Still, overall.
All right.
Bye-bye.
>> All right.
Bye-bye.
>> If you’d like us to explain some stuff to you that’s not quite so gross, we’ll do the gross stuff.
Why not, right?
>> Why not?
>> Give us a call, 1-877-929-9673.
That’s 1-877-WAY-WORD.
>> Hello.
You have A Way with Words.
>> Hi.
This is Celeste calling from Washington, D.C.
>> Well, hello, Celeste.
What do you do in D.C.?
>> I am a legal assistant.
>> So are you calling for grammatical assistance?
>> I am calling because I’m curious to know the origins of the phrase “go fly a kite.”
>> -huh.
“Go fly a kite” meaning buzz off?
>> Yes.
>> Now, what got you curious about that?
>> Well, someone had mentioned it to me a while ago, and I was really confused as to what they meant.
I was bothering them, and obviously I stopped bothering them because I just didn’t know what they were trying to tell me to do.
>> Okay.
Were you a kid and you were told to go fly a kite or…
>> Yes, I was.
>> So you thought they were literally telling you to go fly a kite?
>> I did.
I did.
>> Oh, bless your heart.
Well, it’s an expression that’s been around for what, Grant?
Since at least the…
>> The 1920s, as far as I know.
>> -huh.
-huh.
>> Really?
>> And so it’s part and parcel of that whole family of expressions like that.
Go jump in a lake.
Go fry an egg.
Go cook a radish.
Those expressions were common during that period of time, and it’s certainly a lot more polite than what you might say.
Go fry an egg or go fly a kite.
Yeah, and I mean, I think it’s just one of many phrases like that.
I mean, you see it in other languages, too.
In Spanish, you’ll be told to go fry an asparagus or go fry potatoes.
>> So the kite, though, Martha, you’ve heard the theories about why people say fly a kite, go fly a kite, right?
So directly going back to this myth that Ben Franklin discovered lightning, or that he discovered electricity, and he didn’t do either, but people do know the story of Ben Franklin flying his kite in the lightning storms, right?
>> Right.
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> So the idea is that if you go fly a kite, they’re hoping that you’ll get struck by lightning.
So it’s a way of saying…
>> Oh, no.
>> It’s a way of saying go injure yourself.
>> Sort of like go jump in a lake.
>> Yeah.
>> Go play in traffic.
>> Go play in traffic, exactly.
So there’s no way to prove that, but it makes the most sense.
And the reason it makes the most sense is because the first use that I know of is from a comic strip where the guy in the comic strip is flying a kite in a lightning storm.
There’s a bolt of lightning in the air about to strike his kite, but he’s not looking where he’s going.
So he’s not only going to get struck by lightning, but he’s going to run headfirst into the rear end of a donkey.
So he’s going to get it either way.
>> Well, Celeste, aren’t you glad you didn’t go do that?
>> I am very glad.
I’m a little concerned that that’s what she was telling me to do.
>> Oh.
>> Well, you know what?
Maybe, you know, yeah, maybe you need a lawyer of your own.
It sounds like an unemployment dispute to me.
>> Okay, thank you so much.
>> All right.
>> You’re welcome, Celeste.
Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> So do you have a copy of that comic strip that we could post to the website?
>> I will post it online.
>> Yes.
>> Absolutely.
>> I would love to see it.
>> Super-duper.
>> All right, well, thank you so much, Celeste.
>> Thank you.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
>> Bye-bye.
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>> Hi, I’m Kathryn and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m Elisa and I’m
Dibby
If someone calls you dibby, should you be flattered or insulted? You’d know if you were in college a century ago—it’s outdated college slang!
Retronyms for New Inventions and Ideas
What do we call it when new inventions or ideas change the name of something old? It used to be that the word guitar was sufficient, but now we regularly distinguish between an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar. Same for television, a word that sufficed until we started saying color television to distinguish it from the earlier black-and-white version. What’s the word for such terms? We know you can’t wait: it’s retronym.
Voluntold
A Cincinnati man says that at the non-profit where he works, he often hears the word voluntold. It comes up when someone is volunteered by someone else to do some task, rather than volunteering themselves. Does this term for involuntary volunteering have military origins?
The Apple of My Eye
“You’re the apple of my eye” is an ancient term of endearment. Martha explains the connections between apples, eyes, and other precious things.
Word-Couver
We share a listener’s email about nicknames for the city of Vancouver, Canada. How about Word-couver?
Heretofore Unnamed Superheroes Game
Quiz Guy John Chaneski is a huge fan of comic books featuring superheroes like Superman and Spider-Man. Lo and behold, John claims he’s discovered a whole treasure trove of Heretofore Unnamed Superheroes, and invites us to guess their names. What do you call the doughty superhero who can take any food item that is past its expiration date, send it back through time, and make it edible again? Need a clue? His mild-mannered alter ego is in his first year at NYU.
Gag a Maggot off a Gutwagon
An Oakland man is curious about a queasy-making phrase: “a face that could gag a maggot off a gutwagon.” What’s a gutwagon? How’s it used? Why is it used? Yech!
Go Fly a Kite
“Go fly a kite!” A caller from Washington, D.C. wonders whose kite is getting flown and why. Naturally, we have some ideas! Here’s a copy of the cartoon Grant mentions (from the Chicago Tribune May 15, 1927, p. G2).
Referring to Friends by Last Name
A San Diego caller says he’s noticed that his high-school grandson and his buddies habitually refer to each other only by their last names, but his granddaughter says she and her own friends never do. Is this just a teenage guy thing? The book that Grant recommends here is A Dictionary of Epithets and Terms of Address by Leslie Dunkling.
Pre-Tiree
Martha shares the oodles of listeners’ emails responding to a caller seeking a better word than retiree to describe himself and his wife. How about pre-tiree? Or jubilant?
Find Your Pants
This week’s Slang This! contestant is from Boston. She shares a slang phrase making the rounds among her friends at MIT: “find your pants.” She then tries to guess the meaning of the slang term boilover and the obscure word nycthemeron.
Forward vs. Forwards
Is it toward or towards? Forward or forwards? Do they differ in American English and British English? A Seattle listener wants to know.
Conflicting Meanings of Prefix “Un”
A California caller is puzzled as to why the prefix un- seems to function in two entirely different ways in the terms undone and unmarried.
A Horse Apiece
If you were raised in North Dakota like our caller, you might wonder about a phrase you heard growing up: “It’s a horse apiece.” It means something like “six of one, half a dozen of the other.” She is curious about the origin of the horse phrase and whether it’s a regional expression.
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Photo by Samantha Forsberg. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Book Mentioned in the Episode
| A Dictionary of Epithets and Terms of Address by Leslie Dunkling |
