See what fellow A Way with Words listeners find most interesting! This page automatically highlights the episodes and segments drawing the most attention right now. It’s a great place to discover discussions on language, etymology, slang, and culture that resonate with others. Looking for something new? Try the search page. You can also listen to all episodes on a single playlist and download episodes from that page.
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By a Long Shot (episode #1572)Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or bank loan — and they're a powerful ... »» -
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Real Corker (episode #1655)Samantha Harvey's novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks and jaw-dropping views. And: a musician who rode the rails in his youth shares the slang he picked up along the way. For example, the word spanging is a blend of ... »» -
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When Pigs Fly (episode #1571)Don't move my cheese! It's a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. Plus, the origin story of the name William, and why it's Guillermo in Spanish. And a five-year-old poses a question that puzzles a lot of people: Why is the letter Q so often followed by a ... »» -
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Death Cookies and Escargot Among the BoilerplateA member of the ski patrol at Vermont's Sugarbush Resort shares some workplace slang. Boilerplate denotes hard-packed snow with a ruffled pattern that makes skis chatter, death cookies are random chunks that could cause an accident, and escargot refers to slowpokes still on the mountain at the end of the day. This is part ... »» -
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Cool Beans (episode #1570)If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you're actually fluent? And a couple's dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you'd been able to meet Albert Einstein. Can you regret that the two of you never ... »» -
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A Cool Million (episode #1654)So many books and so little time—it's a challenge to choose what to read next! It helps to remember that so-called "reading mortality" is a fact of life—you'll never get to them all, but you can curate your own to-read list that speaks to you. Plus, the sneaky story behind the expression slip someone a ... »» -
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Boodle on Beaver IslandA resident of Michigan's scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies for this particular use of boodle as a verb, but boodle in this sense is most likely a ... »» -
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Love Bites (episode #1569)The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear your instructor speaking in a kind of continuous present, with phrases like ... »» -
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Do it for The HwylThe new movie Dream Horse tells a true story that takes place in a tiny Welsh village. A bartender tries to breed a championship racehorse and persuades her neighbors to chip in. They agree, they say, because they want to do it for the hwyl. The Oxford English Dictionary defines hwyl this way: "an ... »» -
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Long Shot vs. Long ChalkPeter from Camden, New Jersey, wonders about the phrases not by a long chalk and not by a long shot. The former is used in the United Kingdom, while the latter is commonly used in the United States. Both suggest the idea of missing a mark by a considerable amount. This is part of a ... »» -
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Tougher Than, Drunker Than, and as Stewed as a Boiled OwlJohn in Frisco, Texas, is puzzled by his dad's phrase tougher than a boiled owl. Although it sounds unappetizing, the phrase has a fascinating backstory. In the 18th century, owls were associated with drunkenness, and often invoked in the phrase drunk as an owl. Among the many synonyms for "intoxicated" is the adjective stewed, which ... »» -
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Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!Vivian in San Antonio says when her family returned from a vacation, her dad would announce Home again, home again! Jiggity jig! This saying is actually more than two centuries old, and comes from an old nursery rhyme about farmers going to market, the type recited while dandling a child on one's knee. The jiggity ... »» -
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Holy Toledo (episode #1651)In 1944, an Italian scientist discovered a drug that he later named for his wife. His wife's name was Marguerite, but she went by Rita — which is why this now familiar drug is known as Ritalin. Plus, a poem about churning butter shows how a writer can draw astonishing beauty out of the most ... »» -
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Driver, Take the Bridge Over the D RiverIn addition to all those towns with extremely short names, there's the river in Oregon with a similarly tiny appellation. It's known simply as the D River. This is part of a complete episode. »» -
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Origin and Meaning of “Another Country Heard From”A grandmother in Ferndale, California, wonders about a phrase her own grandmother used. If one of the grandchildren walked into a room and joined a conversation already taking place, she'd exclaim, "Oh! Another country heard from!" Although her grandmother used the expression affectionately, traditionally, it's had a more dismissive sense. It derives from an older ... »» -
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Wicked Good (episode #1653)To grok something means "to understand it completely." The word grok comes from a language spoken on the planet Mars—well, at least according to the science fiction writer who coined the term! Also, we know the meaning of the word trauma, but is there a word that denotes "the opposite of trauma"? Plus, if someone ... »» -
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Do You Call In Sick or Call Out Sick?A Vermont listener says that if she has to be absent from work due to illness, she would call in sick. Her twenty-something daughters, however, use the phrase call out sick. Is this a generational difference, or a regional one, and is one more prevalent or correct than the other? Both are grammatically correct, but ... »» -
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Slang Collected by the Railway CarloadSteve, a singer-songwriter from Rock Springs, Wyoming, shares some slang he picked up while months riding the rails and busking. Spanging refers to panhandling, from asking for "spare change." The term bull refers to a type of security guard. Riding junk refers to traveling on a slow train. The pusher engine is called the Cadillac ... »» -
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A Book Lifting Your Spirits 250 Miles Above EarthNeed a book to lift you out of this world? Try Orbital (Bookshop|Amazon). In it, Booker-winning novelist Samantha Harvey imagines the moment-to-moment experience of living on a space station, a mixture of the mundane and the majestic, 250 miles above the bright blue orb of earth amid the vast, black emptiness of ... »» -
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“Just Like Downtown” Means Satisfactory or ExcellentPatrick in Jacksonville, Florida, is curious about an expression his family uses: just like downtown, meaning, "done really well," or "performed to perfection." This phrase, along with just like New York, originated in the days when promoters of theatrical productions in the hinterlands would boast that the shows were every bit as good as those ... »» -
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Lasagna Hog (episode #1568)Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you're understood and being insulted. "High-involvement" speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm, while "high-considerateness" speakers tend more toward thoughtful pauses and polite turn-taking. Adjusting your speaking style accordingly may improve not only your communication, but also your ... »» -
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Queen Bee (episode #1550)An artist asks strangers to write haiku about the pandemic and gets back poetic, poignant glimpses of life under lockdown. Plus, the new book Queenspotting features the colorful language of beekeeping! Bees tell each other about a good source of nectar by doing a waggle dance, and when a queen bee is ready to mate ... »» -
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To Have Beef or to Have “A” Beef With Someone?Nikki in Northampton, Massachusetts, disagrees with her teenage daughter about the word beef, as in to have a beef, meaning "to have a problem with someone or something." Nikki uses the word a before the word beef, but her daughter omits that article and simply says to have beef. Traditionally, beef meaning "a complaint" or ... »» -
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Adynatons from Stevie WonderStevie Wonder's 1976 hit "As" includes a long list of adynatons, those fanciful statements about impossible events that are used for rhetorical effect. This is part of a complete episode. »» -
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shi-shishi-shi n. urine or urination. Also make shi-shi or go shi-shi ‘to urinate.’ Editorial Note: Reduplicated shi, from the Japanese shiko ‘urine.’ Also imitative of the sound of streaming water. A similar expression occurs in Portuguese, according to the Dictionary of Informal Brazilian Portuguese (1983, Georgetown University Press). In that language, fazer xixi is colloquial ... »» -
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Schnibbles, Schnippel, SchniddlesBarney from Carmel, Indiana, says his family always used the term schniddles to refer to e teeny bits of detritus left on the table after snipping paper snowflakes. It's most likely a variant of schnibbles, a far more common term for "scraps," or "small pieces," which is heard in parts of the United States that ... »» -
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The Business Expression “Moving Someone’s Cheese”Alyssa from Dallas, Texas, is puzzled by some jargon she hears in her workplace. As a management consultant, she's often warned by her bosses to make sure that employees don't think that management is moving their cheese. The phrase references Spencer Johnson's 1998 bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese? (Bookshop|Amazon) This motivational fable is ... »» -
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A Wet Bird Never Flies at NightRachel from San Diego, California, says that her grandfather would occasionally answer questions with the phrase wet ducks don't fly at night. It's a variation of a wet bird never flies at night, a phrase that figures in a goofy joke about searching for the meaning of life. The phrase was popularized by deadpan ... »» -
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Why are First Episodes of Television Shows Called Pilots?A third-grader in San Diego, California, wants to know why the first episode of a television series is often titled Pilot. This is part of a complete episode. »» -
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Ass Over TeakettleBefore you turn up your nose at the expression "ass over teakettle," know that our first evidence for this phrase is in William Carlos Williams' story "White Mule." A great idiom from a great writer. Other topsy-turvy phrases suggesting the same idea: "head over heels" and "head over tin cup." This is part of ... »» -
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Bedroom Suit vs. SuiteBeth in Springhill, Tennessee, wonders which is correct to denote a particular grouping of furniture: bedroom suit or bedroom suite? Both are correct, although their use varies from region to region. If you don't want to invite controversy, just use refer to that furniture as a bedroom set. This is part of a complete ... »» -
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You Can Give Them Books and Give Them Books, but They Just Chew the CoversTim from Kalamazoo, Michigan, reports his dad used to say You can give them books and give them books, but they just chew the covers right off. He'd use this expression when he felt someone wasn't following instructions or failing to understand an explanation. This saying is usually applied to people failing to appreciate what ... »» -
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Amen, Brother Ben!Angel says her grandfather, who was from Manning, South Carolina, was a pastor who used to repeat the phrase Amen, Brother Ben, shot a rooster, killed a hen. This expression can express affirmation, and can also serve as a quick, joking way to say grace before a meal, including Amen, Brother Ben, shot a rooster ... »» -
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Dashboards, From Wagons to Digital ScreensGerald from Gaspee Point, Rhode Island, wants to know the story behind the term dashboard. Originally a dashboard was wood or leather placed at the front in horse-drawn vehicles to keep the driver and passengers from being dashed with mud, water, or snow. Later dashboard was transferred to the front inside panel of a car ... »» -
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Navy Expression “Turn To”Navy veterans will recognize the two-fingered gesture that looks as if someone's turning an invisible doorknob. It accompanies the order turn to, meaning "get to work." How did this handy expression get started? This is part of a complete episode. »» -
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Heavy, Heavy HangoverClint from Dallas, Texas, recalls a peculiar family tradition for giving birthday presents to a child. A giver would hold a gift over the child's head and recite: Heavy heavy hangover / Thy poor head / What do you wish this donor? The child was then supposed to name some sort of fanciful present for ... »» -
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Why Are Anonymous People Called “John Doe” in Legal Matters?Zack in Tallahassee, Florida, wonders: Why do we use the name John Doe to refer to someone anonymous or unknown? The names John Doe and Richard Roe go back to at least the 1300s, when they were used in land-related legal matters as pseudonyms for plaintiff and defendant. But those weren't the only names. Sometimes ... »» -
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Are “Proctor” and “Proctologist” Related?Are the words proctor and proctologist connected? No. The word proctor, as in a university proctor who supervises or monitors students, derives from Latin procurator, from words meaning to "care for" or "advocate for," from the same family of words as proxy and procure. The source of the word proctologist is the Greek word proktos, meaning ... »» -
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Words that Looks Like What They Refer toDan from Elmira, New York, wonders if there's such a thing as "structural" onomatopoeia, where the visual appearance or architecture of a written word suggests the meaning of the word. For example, he says, the word level is a palindrome — a word spelled the same way backwards and forwards — and even has a ... »» -
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Visiting With One Arm Long Than the OtherMaggie in Spring Valley, New York, recalls her father's advice: Don't go visiting with one arm longer than the other. He meant "Don't arrive as a guest empty-handed." The original expression appears to come from Ireland, where it appeared in the 1850s as Don't go visiting with one arm as long as the other, the ... »» -
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When You Don’t Finish What You… You Have AnapodotonsIf you start the phrase when in Rome… but don't finish the sentence with do as the Romans do, or say birds of a feather… without adding flock together, you're engaging in anapodoton, a term of rhetoric that refers to the act of saying only the first part of a proverb or common saying, because ... »» -
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Layers to Catch MeddlersAnna from Columbia, Mississippi, wonders about a phrase she heard as a youngster from her dad: leyores to catch meddlers or leyores to catch meddlers. Sometimes when she'd ask what he was doing, he'd respond with that cryptic saying, indicating that whatever he was doing, it was none of her business. Over the last 350 ... »» -
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cannonball Sundaycannonball Sunday n.— «On these great festivals of the Christian faith, churches are crowded, often to overflowing while on some other Sundays the exact opposite is true. In fact, the Sundays after these great festivals are sometimes referred to as "cannonball Sundays," meaning you can fire a cannon through the congregation and probably not hit anyone.» —“Spirited Words" by ... »» -
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If “Hypo-” Means “Under,” What is the “Chondria” in “Hypochondria”?Hypochondria derives from the Greek preposition hypo, meaning "under," as in the hypodermic that goes under the skin, and hypothermia, the condition of being insufficient heat. The -chondria in hypochondria comes from Greek chondros, meaning "gristle" or "cartilage." It was once believed that the organs under the cartilage of the breastbone — specifically the spleen ... »» -
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Who Coined the Word “Fluffle” to Refer to a Group of Rabbits?Van from Washington, D.C., is curious about the word fluffle, which supposedly denotes "a group of bunnies." A friend of hers claimed to have coined this collective noun for lagomorphs along with friends at the University of Alberta in Canada some 10 to 15 years ago and inserted it into Wikipedia on a lark. Could ... »» -
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Tribble Trouble (episode #1564)In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for "stairs," and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don't already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It's the act of trying to hide your sneeze while wearing a face mask. Also, how the vocabulary of science ... »» -
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Vogelheu, Bird’s Hay, a Swiss Dish and a Family MemoryVogelheu—literally, "Vogelheu"—is a Swiss dish with toasted bread, cubed and cooked with eggs and other ingredients for a tasty meal that makes efficient use of leftover bread. This is part of a complete episode. »» -
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Groundhogs Making CoffeeJacob in Frankfort, Kentucky, remembers that on foggy mornings in Appalachia, he'd hear grownups say that the groundhogs are making coffee. Writer Jesse Stuart, who served as Kentucky's Poet Laureate in the mid-1950s, wrote evocatively about how on such days little white clouds seem to cling to the mountains, inspiring a long tradition of ... »» -
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Ish Biddly Oten Doten Bobo Ba Deeten DottenMeg says that when she was growing up near Boston, Massachusetts, her dad used to entertain kids with a phrase that sounded like Ish biddly oten doten bobo ba deeten dotten wanotten shhhhh! That's most likely adapted from a camp song from the 1950s called "Flee Fly Flo" that has lots of different versions ... »» -
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