Everyone knows you don’t start a sentence with but. But why? Also, how voice recognition technology is changing the way we think and write and what English sounds like to foreigners. Plus, where cockamamie comes from, oddly translated movie...
The Pope has several Twitter feeds — and one of them’s entirely in Latin! But how do you adapt an ancient language to the modern world of selfies and hashtags? Plus, pit bull lovers are giving their dogs a linguistic makeover;...
John Chaneski’s quiz adapts the National Puzzlers League puzzle type called a flat: a short verse with one or more blanks, an enumeration, and a stated bit of wordplay that turns one answer into another. These two-line flats use The Wizard of Oz...
Harriet Doerr published her first novel, Stones for Ibarra, at the age of 73. It won a National Book Award. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Harriet Doerr’s First Book” You’re listening to A Way with Words...
Our two most recently aired episodes were Going All-City last week and The College Slang Party the week before that. They’re reruns more than six months old — which means you’ve forgotten half of what’s in them, right? Give...
Grant offers examples from his latest words of the year list, including Crankshaft (the code name for the Osama Bin Laden), and basketbrawl, referring to the fight that broke out between the Georgetown Hoyas and the Chinese National Team. This is...