Pickle, baboon, cupcake, snorkel, pumpkin, Kalamazoo—let’s face it, some words are just plain funny. But what makes some words funnier than others? Martha and Grant consider this question with an assist from Neil Simon’s play (and movie)...
domainer n.— «New York City domain dispute attorney, Karen Bernstein, says that domain industry professionals (affectionately known as “domainers”) are being hammered by meritless domain disputes and should lobby the Internet...
Favorite online reading. If the subjunctive tense were to disappear from English, would anybody care? And just in time for this romantic weekend, a caller discovers the meaning of…lurve. That’s L-U-R-V-E.
A husband and wife have a long-running dispute over whether the word scissors is singular or plural. Is it a scissors or a pair of scissors? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Scissors vs. A Pair of Scissors” Hello, you...
Like mushrooms in fallen leaves, new words keep popping up overnight. Also, is there an English word that means “the in-laws of your son or daughter“? And what does it mean when someone says, “Well, that was odder than Dick’s...
Well, snap! It's another newsletter from "A Way with Words," the pluperfect radio show. Did you hear the program this past weekend? If not, you missed a brand-new doozy from the boozy two-sy (kidding about...