A pint-sized mad scientist, a green-haired girl with a contagious sense of wonder, and a 10-year-old detective. They’re all characters in the books on Grant’s latest list of recommended books for children. Also, what’s the word for a female octopus? How about a male kangaroo? A colorful book for younger kids has those answers and more. And the debate over “on accident” versus “by accident”: Which one you use probably depends on how old you are. Plus, if you hop on a merry-go-round, are you moving clockwise or counterclockwise? The answer depends on which side of the pond you’re on.
This episode first aired June 21, 2013. It was rebroadcast the weekends of January 13 and November 24, 2014.
Animal Kingdom Moms and Dads
Tuna may be the chicken of the sea, but octopi, lobsters and crabs are the hens. That is, the females of each those species is called a hen. Aaron Zenz’s lovely book for children I Love Ewe: An Ode to Animal Moms offers a little lesson about female names in the animal kingdom. He does the same for the males of the species in Hug a Bull: An Ode to Animal Dads.
Holy Wah
Holy wah, a Yooper corruption of “wow”, is specific to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Evidently, it comes in handy when spotting a bear.
Toms and Queens
An adult male cat is called a tom. What’s the female called? A queen.
Carousel vs. Merry-Go-Round
Martha Geiger of Sacramento, California, says her French teacher told her that the difference between a carousel and a merry-go-round is that one goes clockwise and the other counterclockwise. True? Actually, there’s really no difference between the names, although in England and much of Europe, these rides usually go clockwise; in the U.S., it’s the opposite. And to some Americans, a merry-go-round is simply that spinning playground fixture for kids.
“To Who” Knock-Knock Joke
Alex Zobler from Stamford, Connecticut, sent along this joke: Knock knock. Who’s there? To. To who? You see where this one’s going, right?
Homophone Word Quiz
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski phones in a game of homophones. For example, what two-word phrase could either be described as a redundant way to name a common crop, or a seasonal attraction at state fairs?
Crocheted Gidote
Lauren from La Crescenta, California, says her 98-year-old grandfather uses a rather obscure saying. As a kid, if Lauren or her sister won a meaningless contest, he’d award them an imaginary prize he called the crocheted gidote. Or maybe that’s gadoty, gadote, guhdody, or gadodie — we’ve never seen the term before. Similar phrases include “You win the crocheted teapot” and “You win the crocheted bicycle,” all suggesting winning a prize that’s as useless as, say, a chocolate teapot.
“On Accident” or “By Accident”
A high-school English teacher asks which is correct: It happened on accident, or It happened by accident? A survey by linguist Leslie Barratt at Indiana State University indicates that most people born after 1990 use on accident, and weren’t even aware that by accident was proper, while those born before 1970 almost always say by accident.
Jacks and Jills
An adult male opossum is called a jack, while the female’s called a jill. A baby opossum is simply known as cute.
Dead Lice Expression
A Dallas listener says that if someone’s moving especially slowly, his co-worker exclaims “It’s like dead lice dripping off you!”” This phrase, found in Southern and African-American literature from the early 20th century, probably reflects the idea that the person is moving so slowly that they’re already dead and any lice on them have starved to death.
The Art of Oratory
As composer and writer H.I. Phillips has observed, Oratory is the art of making deep noises from the chest sound like important messages from the brain.
Grant’s List of Children’s Books
Grant offers of a list of children’s books he’s been enjoying with his six-year-old son: Yotsuba&!, the energetic, curious Manga character; Pippi Longstocking; Calvin and Hobbes; the mad scientist Franny K. Stein; and the venerable Encyclopedia Brown.
Sea Knots
Why are distances at sea measured in knots? In the 1500s, sailors would drop a chip log off the side of the boat and let out the rope for about thirty seconds, counting how many knots on the rope went out. Eventually, one knot came to mean one nautical mile per hour. Incidentally, this same log gave us logbook, weblog, and ultimately, blog.
Ewes, Nannies, and Flyers
A female sheep is an ewe, a goat is a nanny, but what’s a female kangaroo? A flyer.
Chow Chow
The word chow, as in chow hall or chow down, goes back to the British presence in Chinese ports during the 1700s. Chow chow was a pidgin term referring to a mixed dish of various foods, namely whatever was on hand. The joke was that it often contained dog, which is the same joke behind our encased sausage scraps known as hot dogs.
Measuring The Sea Joke
Why do we measure the sea in knots? Why, to keep the ocean tide!
Short-Lived Pronunciation
Although a few sticklers cling to the traditional pronunciation of short-lived with a long i, the vast majority of Americans now pronounce short-lived with a short i. Long live the latter, we say.
Does and Bucks
Does and bucks are female and male deer, respectively. But what do you call female and male gerbils. Why, they’re does and bucks, too.
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Photo by Rob Pongsajapan. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Books Mentioned in the Episode
Music Used in the Episode
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Secret Is Out | Cascadia ’10 | Cascadia 10 | Cascadia ’10 |
| Moon Cabbage | Polyrhythmics | Moon Cabbage | KEPT |
| Super Bad | Suburban Soul Crew | Shafted! – 70’s Instrumental Funk Classic | Warner |
| Apophistry | Cascadia ’10 | Cascadia 10 | Cascadia ’10 |
| Ethiopino | Jungle By Night | Hidden | Kindred Spirits |
| The Past Is History | Jungle By Night | Hidden | Kindred Spirits |
| Yo Slick | Suburban Soul Crew | Shafted! – 70’s Instrumental Funk Classic | Warner |
| Car Crash | Polyrhythmics | Labrador | Polyrhythmics |
| Moonroof | Polyrhythmics | Labrador | Polyrhythmics |
| Labrador | Polyrhythmics | Labrador | Polyrhythmics |
| Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off | Ella Fitzgerald | Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Song Book | Verve |
One reason for counterclockwise rotation of US merry-go-rounds is that the rider would try to catch the brass ring with the right hand. Judging by pictures, I don’t think this means of gaining a free ride is used in UK. The discussion of terms left me wondering what the carney term might be. It always grates on my ears that carnies pronounce the steam or pneumatic keyboard instrument as cally ope, rather than like the muse.
Ferrets come in hob and jill. Modern goatherds claim it is buck and doe, not billy and nanny, but both consider young as kids, with the standard joke as to whether a noisy pregnant doe is kidding or kidding. Queen seems to be a relatively recent term from cat breeders. while the traditional term is puss or pussy. A castrated tom becomes a gib and 1970s Vancouver area had the term gibbled for a situation all messed up. Finally, what is a male octopus?
Children’s books: Don’t forget Mordekai Richler’s “Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang”, a great two level story, a fairy tale for kids and an allegory for adults. I had the fortune to hear Richler read this book prior to publication, on CBC radio.
I would like to make a remark on ‘Crocheted Gidote’.
In Dutch we call a small present ‘cadeautje’, which sounds a lot like ‘gidote’.