We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft project, and a city council meeting. • Instead of reversing...
Andrew from Annandale, Virginia, asks about the origin of the word boondoggle. Why does it mean a wasteful project or plain old busywork, but also denotes a kind of leathercraft lanyard made at camp? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game of phrases involving the letter B. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Quiz with the Letter “B”” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette. And...
Katie in Boston, who grew up near Buffalo, knew the plastic-string camp craft as boondoggle, while friends in Boston called the material or activity gimp and others called it lanyard. Boondoggle appears to have arisen in scouting near Rochester, New...
A college senior has invented a word to describe that anxiety we feel when there’s unfinished work looming over us. He calls it desgundes. As in, “that twenty-year-old in the library making a three-foot boondoggle must likely be dealing...
When it comes to language, who’s the decider? Grant explains how grammar rules develop. Also, what’s tarantula juice, and what’s the difference between a muffin top and a smiley? We discuss these and other terms from Green’s...