Why is New York City called the Big Apple? In the 1920s, a writer named John Fitz Gerald used it in a column about the horseracing scene, because racetrack workers in New Orleans would say that if a horse was successful down South, they’d send...
Grant gives a brief review of the new third edition of Paul Dickson’s The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, all 974 pages and 4.5 pounds of it. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Baseball Dictionary” You’re...
Hey! It's another newsletter from "A Way with Words," which this week was called "entertainingly erudite" by William Safire in the New York Times. Suh-weet! Our latest erudition came in the form of talk about "apple...
Happy holidays to everyone! Your gift is another episode of A Way with Words. It's one-size-fits-all. This week we chewed over whether "cotton-picking" is racist, unintentionally funny headlines, a holiday-song quiz...
Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words. Over the weekend we talked more about political language, "hair of the dog," "a fish rots from the head down," and "pareidolia." We also posted another language...
Hello, you have A Way with Words! This past weekend's show covered a lot of ground, including new political language like "glass pockets" and "horseracism," and whether there is a relationship between "caucus" and...