Latvian vista means chicken, a tidy example of a false friend, a word that looks familiar in another language but means something else. Carlos says his Latvian family background makes phrases such as Vista Computing Systems, Vista Vision, and Vista...
What do you say if you have guests over and someone in your family has stray food left on the face? In some households, the secret warning is “there’s a gazelle on the lawn.” But why a gazelle? Also, this week: the term for a party...
This week, it’s the language of politics. Martha and Grant discuss two handy terms describing politicians: far center and snollygoster. Also, a presidential word puzzle, false friends, spendthrifts, and a long list of 17th-century insults. So...
In an earlier episode, we discussed linguistic false friends, those words in foreign languages that look like familiar English words, but mean something quite different. Martha reads an email response from a listener who learned the hard way that in...
Beware of false friends, those words that don’t translate the way you’d expect. For example, the word “gift” in German means “poison,” and the Spanish word “tuna” means “the fruit of the prickly...
The names Australia and Austria are awfully similar. Is it a coincidence? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Australia and Austria” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, Martha. This is Sendel Rivallery in Chicago...
