Grant shares a strange word from the fringes of English: mofussil. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Mofussil” Earlier, we were talking about words that caught us up short the first time we ran across them. Here’s one, Martha, that...
A few episodes ago, Martha and Grant asked listeners for variations on the road-trip game of padiddle, and boy, did they oblige. For starters, how about all these names for the tail-light version of padiddle? Padunkle, padonkle, perdunkle...
A caller wants to know why those deep-fried balls of cornmeal and spices are called hush puppies. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hush Puppies” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Yes, hi, this is Hallie. Hello, Hallie, what’s going...
Puzzle Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle about William Sn akespeare—you know, the great playwright whose works are just one letter different from those of his better-known fellow writer, William Shakespeare. It was Snakespeare, for example, who...
Hello, everybody. Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words! This weekend we aired a repeat episode in which we discussed "drive safe" vs. "drive safely," the meaning of "paratereseomaniac," and the expression...
duck’s guts
n.pl.— «Panic-stricken, I realised that I was (to use a good old Bajan expression) “in duck’s guts.”» —“Private Line—Language barrier” by Jeannette Layne-Clarke The Nation (Barbados) Nov. 25, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
