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”...
There’s a point when children understand just enough of their native language to be confused by homophones and metaphors. What misunderstandings do you remember? Maybe you thought cat burglars stole only cats, or that you might be swept out to...
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...
The 2010 winner of the “Best Picture” Oscar has a Seattle woman wondering about the term hurt locker. Ben Zimmer wrote about it recently in his column at the Visual Thesaurus and we talk about it, too. Here’s the searing poem by...
How’d we get the term colorblind, and when it did come to be mean “indifferent to race”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Etymology of Colorblind” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, how are you...