While traveling in England, Chris in Hollywood, Florida, picked up a favorite word from his British friends: faff. The expression faffing about means “procrastinating, idling, dawdling” or “acting ineffectually.” Ultimately...
Following our discussion with a Norfolk, Virginia, listener about ordering a burger all the way deluxe meaning “with all the condiments and toppings,” a listener from Pittston, Pennsylvania, weighs in with the phrase he and his friends...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski would like you to meet Greek friends‘ friends, all of whose names follow the pronunciation pattern of their pals. For example, Sophocles would like you to meet his friend who’s an expert on cephalopods, such as...
The first-ever “Word by Word” awards were presented by A Way With Words co-hosts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett as part of a sold-out celebration at the San Diego Natural History Museum. To celebrate its tenth year of independent production...
There’s a new kind of hamburger menu that involves pixels, not pickles. It’s that little stack of horizontal lines in the corner of a webpage that you click to see more options. You might use a hamburger menu while webrooming–that...
After we talked in an earlier episode about what Martha calls anyway friends–those friends you pick right up with after not speaking for a long time–a listener sent in this quip: Friends are like fish, they’re fresh when you catch...