News reports that the makers of Scrabble were changing the rules to allow proper names left some purists fuming. The rumors were false, but they got Grant thinking about idiosyncratic adaptations of the game’s rules. Also this week, the...
An Indianapolis listener says his father used to often spoke of leaving this veil of tears. His son wonders about the origin of that phrase. Grant and Martha explain the expression is actually vale of tears, a synonym for valley. In some...
Where do we get the phrase “belly up”? The expression has made its way to the bar, but the original belly up belonged to a dead fish. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Belly Up” Hello, you have A Way with...
A physicist is curious about the term learning curve. He pictures it as a pair of axes. But if that’s the case, what’s X and what’s Y? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of Learning Curve”...
The first of two podcasts this week includes a special message to A Way with Words podcast listeners. Also, Martha answers a listener’s email about the term sea change. Or is it C change?
800-pound gorilla in the room is a blend of two images: an 800-pound gorilla, apparently from the old joke about a gorilla sleeping anywhere it wants, which means something powerful enough to get its way, and the elephant in the room, the obvious...