A taciturn gumshoe in Robert B. Parker’s detective novel Bye Bye Baby (Bookshop|Amazon) offers this good advice: “Never say anything that doesn’t improve the silence.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Listeners respond to our earlier conversation about ending a telephone call with mmm-bye. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Mmm-Bye” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it...
Chad in Omaha, Nebraska, noticed that his mother ended every phone call with mmm-bye, a form he never heard her use in person. The closing may be simply bye with the initial m sound held a little longer before the lips release for the b, not a...

