You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
Suppose you overheard some people talking excitedly and they’re using terms like L-Y-S and frogging and squishy male.
You might wonder what they’re discussing.
We received a great email from Alan Wise of North Dallas, Texas.
She hosts the podcast called Sal and Al, the Wool Slayers.
And it’s on YouTube and it’s all about knitting.
And she shared some of the terms that are widely used in that community.
Like, for example, LYS stands for local yarn shop.
That’s one of those independently owned stores rather than a big box store, which is a very important part of many knitting communities.
And then I mentioned frogging, which is when you knit something and it’s not right, and so you start pulling it apart.
And that’s called frogging because, you know, you rip it, rip it like a frog.
Rip it, rip it, rip it.
And then squishy mail is when you receive yarn in the mail.
The package isn’t rigid and therefore it’s squishy.
So people get all excited about squishy mail, M-A-I-L.
It’s a present that you give yourself.
You forget what you ordered.
Yeah, right.
And then you put that in your stash, which is your yarn that’s currently not in use on a project.
You have to say stash in a hushed voice, I think.
Do you?
My stash.
There’s a certain reverence when people talk about their stash.
Oh, for sure, when it comes to knitters.
Well, knitters not only have a reverence for their stash, but they have a reverence for their lingo.
And if you haven’t heard your lingo, tell us some more, 877-929-9673.
And whatever your hobby, whatever you do on the side, we want to know your language.
Send it to us an email, words@waywordradio.org.
