A listener in Tampa, Florida, was discussing the 2016 presidential election when the term gaslighted came up. Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which victims are manipulated into doubting their own perceptions. The term was popularized...
Why do we say something is academic when referring to a question or topic that’s theoretical? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “It’s Academic at this Point” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Good morning...
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...
A customer-service representative from Seattle, Washington, is curious about the phrases people use as a part of leave-taking when they’re finishing a telephone conversation. Linguists who conduct discourse analysis on such conversations say...
A caller from University Park, Maryland, wonders what’s really going on when someone says ” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “That’s a Great Question” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Jerry...
We heard from a woman who told her boyfriend about her plan to get her hair cut. He responded that he thought that particular style would make her hair “worse.” Does the word worse in this case imply that her hair was bad to begin with...
