The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What’s the best way to use a thesaurus? DON’T — unless, that is, you already know the definition of the word in question. From careless plagiarists to a former president, a look at the embarrassing results when people try using a big word they don’t quite understand. Plus, the story behind “Hell’s Bells,” and what your clothes look like if they’re “swarpy.” Also, wake vs. awaken, this weekend vs. next weekend, rat-finking, balderdash, Hell’s bells!, and widdershins.
This episode first aired October 17, 2014. It was rebroadcast the weekend of November 30, 2015.
Thesaurus Plagiarizing
Whatever Roget’s Thesaurus may have you believe, sinister buttocks is not a synonym for “left behind.” But a growing number of students are blindly using the thesaurus, or Rogeting, trying mask plagiarism. And it’s not working.
Oxt Weekend
“Next Thursday” could mean this coming Thursday or the Thursday after. And despite the push to make oxt weekend a term for the weekend after next, even grammarians haven’t settled on what next refers to, so it’s always important to clarify with the person you’re talking to.
I Can’t Even
Among Grant’s candidates for his 2014 Words of the Year list are the phrases “I can’t even” and “Can you not.”
Balderdash
The origin of the exclamation “Balderdash!”, meaning “nonsense,” isn’t entirely known. It is clear, however, that back in the 17th century balderdash could refer to a frothy mix of liquids, such as beer and buttermilk, or brandy and ale, and later to a jumbled mix of words.
Where to Keep your Thesaurus
The Irish writer Roddy Doyle has some good advice about using a thesaurus: “Do keep a thesaurus, but in the shed at the back of the garden or behind the fridge, somewhere that demands travel or effort.”
Wedding Puns Game
Our quiz guy John Chaneski is back with a game of wedding puns. For example, if Ella Fitzgerald married Darth Vader, she’d be, well, a kind of shoe, or something that might convey you to the top floor of a building.
Origin of “Hell’s Bells”
“Hell’s Bells!”, an exclamation along the lines of “darn!”, is likely just variation of hellfire, and reinforced by its rhyme.
Lacerates Falling from My Eyes
Back when George W. Bush was a student at a New England prep school, he took to the thesaurus to impress a teacher, and wound up using a synonym for the wrong meaning for tear. Hence, the telltale phrase lacerates falling from my eyes wound up in one of his papers.
Rat Fink
In addition to being the name of a plastic toy from the 60’s, the term rat fink was once used specifically to mean a narc or stool pigeon. Today, it’s used generally to mean a despicable person.
Nothing to Say
Like the boy when the calf ran over him, “I had nothing to say,” is an old saying describing someone who’s speechless, and goes back to the mid-19th century.
Swarpy
A caller whose wife is from eastern Kentucky says she uses the term swarpy to describe clothing that’s too big, ill-fitting, and may even drag on the ground. This term probably derives from an old Scots verb “swap,” meaning to “sweep” or “swing,” or otherwise “move downward forcibly.”
Culture of Proverbs
Are we a proverb culture anymore? In a largely urban society, we’re not likely to immediately recognize the meaning of the saying between hay and grass, meaning “weak” or “feeble.”
Pricey Menu Items
The longer the description of an item on a menu, the more expensive it’ll likely be. In The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu, Stanford University linguist Dan Jurafsky shows that with each extra letter in a menu description, the price goes up about 69 cents. For a really comprehensive collection of menus, from the earliest Chinese American restaurants to old cruise ship menus, we recommend the New York Public Library’s menu database.
Spleeny
Spleeny, meaning “hypersensitive” or “hypochondriacal,” is chiefly heard in New England and goes back to an old sense of the spleen affecting one’s mood.
Subscriber Countdowns
The writer Clay Shirky tipped us off to a morbid bit of slang used in the dying business of print newspapers, where obituaries are referred to as subscriber countdowns.
Widdershins
Widdershins, also spelled withershins, means “counterclockwise,” and can also refer to someone or something that’s off or backwards. Another word for “the opposite of widdershins,” by the way, is deasil.
A Mile in Someone’s Shoes
Before you insult a man, try walking a mile in his shoes. That way, when you insult him, you’re a mile away –and, you have his shoes.
Wake vs. Awaken
For a good time, google wake vs. awaken. Perhaps the most vexing verb in English, the term for waking up still puzzles the experts.
Ingrid Bergman Quote
Ingrid Bergman once said, “a kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.”
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Photo by Priyambada Nath. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Book Mentioned in the Episode
| The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu by Dan Jurafsky |
Music Used in the Episode
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bass Blues | Joe Pass | Better Days | Efa Records |
| The Chartreuse Woman | Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo Seven | The Chartreuse Woman | Sunflower Soul Records |
| We’ll Be Together Again | Joe Pass | Better Days | Efa Records |
| Mesothelioma | Magic in Threes | Magic in Threes | GED Soul |
| Woe Is Me | Galt MacDermot | Up From The Basement | Kilmarnock |
| Ripped Open By Metal Explosions | Galt MacDermot | Up From The Basement | Kilmarnock |
| Better Days | Joe Pass | Better Days | Efa Records |
| Pushin’ Off | Magic in Threes | Magic in Threes | GED Soul |
| It’s Too Late | Joe Pass | Better Days | Efa Records |
| Brown Bag | Boogaloo Joe Jones | Right On Brother | Prestige |
| Gotcha | Joe Pass | Better Days | Efa Records |
| Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off | Ella Fitzgerald | Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Song Book | Verve |
