Fess up: do you have a pet name for your car? How about your computer? Martha and Grant discuss the urge to give nicknames to inanimate objects in our lives. Also, why do we speak of vetting a political candidate? And what in the world is a zoo...
What’s the best way to improve vocabulary and remember the words you learn? When a San Diego listener asks that question, Grant and Martha share vocabulary-boosting practical tips. Forget the flash cards and reach for a library card instead...
Ahoy, mateys, and welcome aboard another newsletter from A Way with Words! We are delighted to welcome our new listeners from KTOO in Juneau, Alaska, and WCAI, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The smell of leather-bound books and printer's ink is...
Hello from Indianapolis, where we've just spent a great weekend with the staff and listeners of WFYI 90.1. You can listen to this week's show here: We talked about words we read but didn't know, like "spanghew" and...
guybrarian n.— «That would be the Dewey Decimal System. The groups’ members were librarians. Or, in some cases, guybrarians. “He hates being called that,” said Sarah Murphy, one of the evening’s organizers and a founder of the...
creeping meatballism n.— «Philistinism—actually, the street term “creeping meatballism” sounds better—spreads through British Columbia’s political class like some zombie virus in a B-grade movie.» —“Plans to close 144...