Whoever wrote “The Book of Love” neglected to include the handy emoticon <3, which looks like a heart if you turn your head sideways. Grant and Martha talk about how that bit of affectionate shorthand can function as a verb, and about...
When it comes to text messaging and its effect on English, the linguistic apocalypse is not nigh. Quite the contrary, in fact. Grant talks about some eye-opening research about text-messaging and teen literacy. This is part of a complete episode...
Ahoy, mateys, and welcome aboard another newsletter from A Way with Words! We are delighted to welcome our new listeners from KTOO in Juneau, Alaska, and WCAI, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The smell of leather-bound books and printer's ink is...
A listener has a question about emoticons, those little sideways symbols you type to suggest emotions in informal electronic writing. You know, like using a colon, dash, and a capital P to stick out your tongue like this 😛 or using a colon, dash...
In our latest online-only episode, Martha’s been putting together a collection of your favorite collective nouns and Grant joins her to swat around a caller’s question about what to call a game of tennis when you have only three players...
lollerskates interj. used to express laughter or hilarity, although often used ironically or satirically in emulation of people who overuse acronyms, chatspeak, emoticons, or elite-speak. Editorial Note: This term is usually used only online. The...