Spit Game

First-century graffiti. People in ancient times could be just as bawdy and colorful as we are today. To prove it, we found some graffiti written on the walls in the city of Pompeii, and found plenty of sex, arrogance and good old fashioned bathroom talk etched in stone. Plus, British rhyming slang makes its way to our televisions through police shows on PBS. And a dictionary for rock climbers gives us a fantastic word that anyone can use to describe a rough day. Also, spitting game, hornswoggling, two kinds of sloppy joes, peppy sad songs, and endearing names for grandma.

This episode first aired June 26, 2015. It was rebroadcast the weekend of August 8, 2016.

Ancient Graffiti

 When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., parts of the ancient city of Pompeii remained intact, including the graffiti written on its walls. Much of what was written, not unlike today’s bathroom etchings, is naughty and boastful, with people like Celadus the Thracian claiming to be the one who “makes the girls moan.”

Read Between the Autocorrect

 A Tallahassee, Florida, mother who texted her daughter in a hurry accidentally asked about the “baby woes,” meaning “baby wipes,” and came to the conclusion that we need a new phrase: “read between the autocorrect.”

British Slang to Grass Someone

 If you watch British police procedurals, you’ll likely come across the term to grass someone, meaning “to inform on someone” or “to rat someone out.” It’s a bit of British rhyming slang that originated with the 19th-century phrase to shop on someone. That gave us the noun shopper, which became grasshopper, and then got shortened to grass.

Neighbor’s Flowers are Red

 A Japanese version of the idiom “the grass is always greener” translates to “the neighbor’s flowers are red.”

Etymology of Hornswoggle

 The word hornswoggle, meaning “to embarrass” or “to swindle,” is of unclear origin, but definitely seems of a piece with U.S. frontier slang from the 1830s and 1840s.

Dictum Word Game

 Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game called Dictum wherein he gives us a word, like contrary or emasculate, and we have to guess the closest bold-faced word that comes after it in the dictionary. Tougher than you might think!

Terms for Grandma

 A listener whose first language is Farsi wonders if the name of the grandma in the classic film An Affair to Remember, gave us the endearment nanu, for grandmother. In Mediterranean countries, words like nanu, nana, nene and nona are all common terms for “granny.”

Wall Graffiti

 Here’s a truism that often appeared scribbled in ancient wall graffiti: “I wonder, oh wall, that you have not yet collapsed. So many writers’ cliches do you bear.”

Spitting Game

 The term “spitting game,” meaning “to flirt,” comes from African-American slang going back to at least the 1960’s, when game referred to someone’s hustle. It’s well covered in Randy Kearse’s Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop and Urban Slanguage.

William Zinsser Quote on Writing

 Martha recalls that as an English major, she nearly memorized William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. He died this month at age 92, and she’ll remember this quote, among others: “Ultimately, the product any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is… I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me — some scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field.”

Deli Meat Sloppy Joe

 A listener from northern New Jersey says that in his part of the state, a sloppy joe was not the mashed-up ground beef sandwich many of us also know as a loose meat sandwich, spoonburger, or tavern. For him, a sloppy joe was a deli meat sandwich that consisted of things like pastrami, turkey, coleslaw, Russian dressing and rye bread.

Ancient Inn Graffiti

 Here’s a lovely bit of ancient graffiti found on the wall of an inn: “We have wet the bed. I admit, we were wrong, my host. If you ask why, there was no chamberpot.”

Pro Wrestling Lingo

 Pro wrestling, a fake sport with a very real following, has a trove of lingo all its own that can be found in the newsletter and website PW Torch. One saying, “red means green,” refers to the fact that a wrestler who winds up bloody will get a prettier payout for his or her performance. And kayfabe is a wrestler’s character persona, which he or she often keeps up for any public appearance, even outside the ring.

Lyrical Dissonance

 A fan of Bruce Springsteen’s song “Dancing in the Dark” called to say that she’s noticed the lyrics are awfully sad for such a peppy tune, and wonders if there’s a word for this phenomenon. Lyrical dissonance would do the job, but there’s also the term agathokakological, a Greek-influenced word meaning “both good and evil.”

Listener Baseball Limerick

 One listener followed up our discussion of classic literary passages turned into limerick form by writing one of his own, a baseball-themed poem that begins, “There once was a batter named Casey.”

Flatlanders and Woodchucks

 Vermont is one place—but not the only one—where non-natives are referred to as flatlanders, and people who’ve been around generations proudly call themselves woodchucks. It’s written about on Shawn Kerivan’s blog, Innkeeping Insights in Stowe.

High Gravity Day

 The Climbing Dictionary by Matt Samet includes a fantastic term that can be used by non-climbers as well: high gravity day, a day when all routes, even easy ones, seem impossible due to a seeming increase in gravity.

To a “T” vs. To the Teeth

 The expression “to a T” comes from a shortening of tittle, a word meaning a little of something. The word tittle even shows up in the bible. There’s also an idiom “to the teeth,” as in dressed to the teeth, or fully armored-up.

This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.

Photo by Red Garland. Used under a Creative Commons license.

Books Mentioned in the Episode

Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop and Urban Slanguage by Randy Kearse

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Climbing Dictionary by Matt Samet

Music Used in the Episode

Title	Artist	Album	Label
Funky Mama	Lou Donaldson	The Natural Soul	Blue Note
The Masquerade Is Over	Lou Donaldson	Blues Walk	Blue Note
Superbad	Suburban Soul Crew	Shafted! – 70’s Instrumental Funk Classic	Warner
Funky Kingston	Toots and The Maytals	Funky Kingston	Dragon Records
Snow Belly Blues	Lou Donaldson	The Natural Soul	Blue Note
Nice ‘N Greasy	Lou Donaldson	The Natural Soul	Blue Note
Time Tough	Toots and The Maytals	The Best of Toots and The Maytals	Trojan Records
Yo Slick	Suburban Soul Crew	Shafted! – 70’s Instrumental Funk Classic	Warner
Macka Fat	Jackie Mittoo	Macka Fat	Studio One
Hang ‘Em High	Jackie Mittoo	Keep On Dancing	Coxsone Records
Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off	Ella Fitzgerald	Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Song Book	Verve