We’ve mentioned the word orts before. It means “leftovers,” but if you want another great word for leftovers or various little odds and ends, there’s always manavalins. That’s how Herman Melville spelled it, although there are several other versions...
Susannah in Aiken, South Carolina, is curious about slumgullion, a word her dad used to denote “gooey baby food” or “goopy oatmeal.” Slumgullion originated with the California gold rush, when miners forced large quantities of water through soil to...
Pico Iyer’s piece in the Los Angeles Times is a testament to the value of long sentences in our age of tweets and abbrevs. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Value of Long Sentences” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant...
Grant and Martha have summer reading suggestions. Grant’s going through books by great women in show business — Tallulah Bankhead, Mindy Kaling, and Tina Fey. Martha finally got a Kindle, and is starting with Herman Melville’s classic, Moby-Dick! A...
