You’ve heard people describe something momentous as “a watershed moment in history.” What is a watershed, exactly? Besides an Indigo Girls’ song, that is. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Watershed” Hello, you have A Way with Words...
In a 1936 episode of Jack Benny’s radio show, a woman says that her father sprained his ankle the night before while truckin’. This has an A Way with Words listener confused; she thought trucking was a term from the 1970s. Grant clears up the...
Why do we say that someone who’s pregnant is “knocked up”? The hit movie starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen has a caller wondering about this term. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Knocked Up: Pregnancy Slang in America, Wake...
life-flight v. phr.— «And that’s when he trots out his new verb. We’ve heard of someone being life-flighted. But Groundhog-Day-ing? Sure it’ll make the wonky hosts of “A Way With Words” shudder, but hey, it works.» —“Old hits, new horizons for John...
Goldberg n. a complicated machine or machine part. Also (Rube) Goldberg device, Goldberg machine. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
