You know those dull sports clichés like “We came to play” and “He left it all on the field”? They’re called bromides. The hosts explain the connection between the tired platitude and the sedative called potassium bromide. The answer involves a book...
Wally’s keyboard riddle asks for the longest English word that can be typed using only the left hand on an English keyboard. A key clue: it’s the plural of an older occupational term for people on airplanes, the job title now generally replaced by...
A Woodbridge, Connecticut, caller tells the story of coming across the following definition for jungftak in Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary (1943): “n. A Persian bird, the male of which had only one wing, on the right side, and the female...
A dogsledder in Vermont wonders why he and his fellow mushers direct their furry packs by shouting gee for “right” and haw for “left.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Gee and Haw” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show...
An Orange County, California, listener describes how both his left-handed parents were forced as children to learn to write with their non-dominant hand. Their handwriting looked unusual, to say the least. Grant discusses myths about handedness and...
Did you learn the vowels as “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” “u,” and sometimes “y” and “w”? A caller who was taught that in second grade was left wondering: When and where does “w” function as a vowel? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The...
