A listener has a suggestion for a word “a state of dread” or “not wanting something to happen,” and that word is unticipation. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Unticipation” We heard from Alan Friedman, who offered a...
Waiting for the other shoe to drop means “anticipating something that has yet to happen.” An old story may explain the origin of this phrase: A man staying in a boarding house is getting ready for bed. He removes one shoe and lets it...
Our discussion about finding a word that means both nervous but excited prompted several suggestions from listeners. A listener in Melbourne, Australia, contributed another term used in his part of the world: toey. If you’re toey, you’re...
Listeners write in with suggestions for a young caller’s request for a single term to describe someone in a state of nervous anticipation. They propose aflutter, atwitter, nervousited, happrehensive, and a noun form, antrepidation. This is...
A woman and her 10-year-old daughter are looking for a word that describes being excited but anxious. It’s not exactly twitterpated, and the Southernismlike a worm in hot ashes is vivid, but a phrase and not a single word. If a single word for...
Postalgia is a possible new coinage for the sorrowful, time-shifted awareness Alice in Tampa describes when she hears an old podcast interview with someone who has since died, while knowing the speaker had no idea what was coming. Words like...