Happy new year and welcome to another A Way with Words newsletter! As you might have guessed by the subject line, you helped the show reach its fundraising goal of $25,000 — and you beat it! Thank you so much for your generosity and your vote of...
Beast means something like awesome or cool among fifth and sixth graders. Elaine, a speech therapist at a school in Indianapolis, called to share that her students say that is so beast and I beasted that. The verb form has appeared in college slang...
O heavy lightness! Serious vanity! Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Andrew in Dallas enjoys oxymorons, expressions that yoke contradictory ideas into a single phrase. The word oxymoron is from Greek for “pointedly foolish,” and everyday...
If you get an email called “Life in the 1500s,” hit delete! Grant explains that the etymology provided is not entirely accurate. That’s what this show is for. Also, if you’re getting an email that says “Free Money...
“A few pickles short of a jar,” “a few peas short of a casserole,” “two French fries short of a Happy Meal”—this week, Martha and Grant discuss these and other full-deckisms, those clever ways to describe someone...
A riddle from A World’s Treasury of Riddles by Phil Cousineau asks, “A riddle, a riddle, I suppose, a thousand eyes and never a nose.” The trick depends on hearing eyes as something besides a face part. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...