Does your family use a special word you’ve never heard anywhere else? A funny name for “the heel of a loaf of bread,” perhaps, or for “visiting relatives who won’t leave.” In this week’s episode, Martha and...
third culture kid n.— «Sonia wants to return to Kenya sometime—”I mean, it’s my home”—but doesn’t know when. As a Kenyan-Indian who moved to Singapore when she was six and lived there for 14 years before attending college in...
A caller fears that the term Indian giver is politically incorrect, and wants an alternative to teach her children. This is part of a complete episode.
Greetings, wanderers, and welcome home. This past weekend on A Way with Words we wrestled with "commentate," "tie me over" vs. "tide me over," long words, and "biweekly" vs. "semiweekly." We also...
A caller asks about how lakes get named, and we talk about a lake with a 45-letter Indian name that may or may not translate as, “You fish on your side, I fish on my side and nobody fishes in the middle.” It’s Lake...
push out rate n.— «The dropout rate, or more accurately the “push out rate,” for Indians is 250 percent higher than it is for the general population.» —“Racism in Indian country” by Dean Chavers Indian...