How do you pronounce the word mobile, as in the toy that hangs above a baby’s crib? In the United States, that kind of mobile is pronounced MOH-beel, but in the United Kingdom, it’s MOH-byle. In the early 1930s, the American sculptor Alexander...
Can language change bad behavior in crowded places? The Irish Railway system has launched an ad campaign to encourage passengers to be more generous at boarding time. For example, have you ever rummaged through your belongings or pretended to have...
After months of work, here it is: the new A Way with Words website. We took a lot of things into account in the renovation, but the biggest category of considerations has been what you, our listeners and visitors, needed. We not only gave you what...
Predictive text on cellphones can result in some amusing accidental substitutions. The word for that: textonym. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Textonym” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, how are you? Doing well. Who’s this...
mobile igloo n.— «I even found a google discussion group called, “FU people who don’t clean the snow from their cars.”…LOL! in New England, these are referred to as “mobile igloos.”» —“Learn to Duck: Mobile Igloos and Manolo Blahniks” by Mo...
churn zone n.— «Ditech Networks, a leading provider of voice quality solutions to the global communications industry, today announced the results of its worldwide voice quality audit, which showed that an average of 39 percent of all mobile calls...