An Indianapolis listener has a copy of a wedding poem that refers to the thrice-happy pair. Is a thrice-happy pair three times as happy as anyone else? Martha explains that the idea goes all the way back to Roman poetry. Here’s an example from a...
Vic from Indianapolis, who works at a newspaper, bristles at colleagues saying I’m efforting that, as in having reporters efforting a photo or asking whether the paper is efforting something. The verb effort has been heard before and may have a...
We hope that when it comes to conversation about language, you haven’t been sufficiently suffonsified, because there’s lots to talk about in this week’s archive episode. For starters, there’s the way some pets take a while to let you know their...
This week, McGimpers, geetus, and other underworld lingo from the 1930s. Crime novelist James Ellroy stops by to talk slang terms and reveals his own favorite. Also, is the expression “Hear, hear!” or “Here, here!”? Is it bran-new or brand-new? The...
An office worker in Indianapolis is mystified when a British colleague sends an email telling her to hang fire. It has to do with faulty firearms. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hang Fire” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi...
An Indianapolis listener says her family often refers to strong liquor as hooch, and wonders where that term comes from. The hosts trace the term’s path from an Indian village in Alaska. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hooch” Hi...