Our conversation about women who use the nicknames Gertie or Gert as jokingly affectionate terms for each other, prompted a listener in Melbourne, Australia, to speculate that it’s a nod to Gertrude Lawrence, an English performer who rose to...
The books we love as children may influence our careers more than we realize. As a child, Martha was fascinated with stories of cracking codes, and Grant loved books with glossaries–not that far from the kind of work they do today. A caller...
In observance of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, copies of his First Folio will be touring all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, for the public to see. It seems fitting, considering what D.H. Lawrence wrote about the Bard: “When...
Lawrence from San Diego asks whether an assignment should ask what students have learned or what they have learnt. The older -t past-tense and past-participle forms—learnt, spelt, and the like—largely gave way to -ed forms in American English during...
If someone has overegged the pudding, they’ve overstated the case. This may explain why a lawyer from Lawrence, Kansas, found the phrase in a judicial opinion. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Overegging the...
This week’s Slang This! contestant grapples with the slang terms squish and optempo. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Squish and Optempo” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett. And...