It’s the business of business jargon. Say you’re in line at the drugstore. Does it bother you if the cashier says, “Next guest”? In department stores and coffeeshops, does the term “guest” suggest real hospitality—or just an annoying edict from...
Gronk the data, heard by Chris in San Diego in the medical-device business, is probably a mishearing of grok, the verb meaning to understand deeply. Robert A. Heinlein coined grok in his 1961 novel Stranger in a Strange Land, and it later became...
Jeff from Columbus, Indiana, asks about his father’s use of the expression “not one iota” to mean “not one bit.” An iota is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet, and ancient Greek speakers used the word for something exceedingly tiny. The...
When did the word slick become a positive word meaning “cool” or “excellent”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Slick” Hi, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Jeff Russell from Greenwood, Indiana. Hey, Jeff. Hi, Jeff. Welcome to...