Mary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, says that growing up, she and the kids in her neighborhood used the the verb pump to refer to giving someone a lift on a bicycle. This caused a bit of confusion when she went away to college and puzzled fellow students with...
GPS art is the creation of a few bikers and runners who track their trips with an app and then post the image of the route they traveled online. The results so far include electronic “drawings” of Darth Vader, Yoda, and characters from...
Kevin in Lakewood, California, was riding his unicycle on a bike path when a girl yelled, “I want your bike,” and he let bike stand. Even though bike is shortened from bicycle, dictionary definitions can be broad enough for any foot-powered wheeled...
If you’re inappropriately focused on the minutiae of a project instead of the bigger picture, you’re said to be bike-shedding. Grant talks about that modern slang term and Martha discusses a word that goes way back in time, right back to...
Grant and Martha discuss a new term, bike-shedding, and an old one, tohubohu. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bike-Shedding” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette. And I’m Grant...
