Catawampus, meaning “askew,” can be spelled at least 15 different ways. It likely derives from the English word cater, meaning “diagonal. ” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Catawampus” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is...
Twittering, tweeting, twirting—it’s rare to see a whole new body of language appear right before your eyes. But that’s what’s happening with Twitter. We discuss the snappy new shorthand of the twitterati. Also, why do people feel compelled to say...
When something’s crooked, some people describe it as catawampus, cattywampus, or kittywampus. A caller wonders about the historical roots of all these words. Anything to do with felines? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Martha and Grant discuss squeejawed and other strange terms that mean “crooked,” or “askew,” including slanchwise, whompy-jawed, whopper-jawed, antigogglin’, sigogglin, and catawampus. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Squeejawed”...
