Hello, language-lover — A Way with Words an independent nonprofit production, which means it doesn’t get financial support from any radio network or government agency. We do the show ourselves, from top to bottom. We make it, we ship it. We...
Frank in Coronado, California, wondered about bailiwick after hearing an attorney say that something wasn’t his bailiwick. The word combines bailiff with wick, an old term for a farm or village. In Middle English, a bailiff was a public...
Great Googly-Moogly, it's another newsletter from "A Way with Words"! In our latest archive episode: If a woman keeps her own name after marriage, is she "Ms." or "Mrs."? Also,"redd up," "out like...
A police officer says that the prosecutor edits out the word “that” from the reports he submits, as in, “The subject stated that he met the co-defendant at a party.” Is the word “that” necessary here? Martha and...
Grant’s been collecting contenders for 2009’s Word of the Year, including Dracula sneeze, Government Motors, and… unumbium? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Dracula Sneeze” Martha, besides the word of...
county store n.— «Whelan said the county appropriated but never spent $30,000 from its 2009 budget for setting up a “county store,” a term for a multipurpose government office in a public place like a mall.» —“Plan would...