Debbie in Boulder, Colorado, says that while watching K-dramas, she often hears Korean-speaking characters urge someone on with an exclamation that means something like “Go get ’em!” or “Good luck!” and sounds like the word Fighting! It’s an example of Konglish, a combination of Korean and English, often transliterated as Hwaiting! or Paiting! On his blog Gusts of Popular Feeling, Matt VanVolkenburg reports tracing its use back more than half a century. This is part of a complete episode.
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...
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.
