Decisions by dictionary editors, wacky wordplay, and Walt Whitman’s soaring verse. How do lexicographers decide which historical figures deserve a mention or perhaps even an illustration in the dictionary? The answer changes with the times. •...
A Fort Worth, Texas, listener wonders about the pronunciation of the word apricot. Is that first syllable long or short? APE-rih-cott or APP-rih-cott? The answer depends on what part of the country you’re in. If you’re in the northern United States...
Michelle in Fort Worth, Texas, says she answers nosy relationship questions with single as a jaybird, meaning comfortably unpartnered. That exact phrase isn’t common, but it fits a larger pattern: speakers detach as a jaybird from the familiar naked...
A high-school teacher in Fort Worth, Texas, wonders about the origin of the term honky. This word is widely considered impolite, and likely derives from various versions of the term hunky or hunyak used to disparage immigrants from Eastern Europe...
A Fort Worth, Texas, couple disagrees about how to pronounce the word gymnast, but both JIM-nist and the more evenly stressed JIM-NAST are fine. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pronouncing Gymnast” Hello, you have A...
A Forth Worth, Texas, listener who interviewed candidates for a head football coach position at a high school reports that out of eight interviewees, six of them used the phrase, “It’s not about the X’s and the O’s...