Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a number game about things so grand, words like forever become five-ever. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Grand Numbers Quiz” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha...
What time is it if it’s the crack of chicken? When exactly is the shank of the evening? How do you pronounce the word spelled H-O-V-E-R? Did Warren G. Harding really coin the word normalcy? Also, a name game, sports nicknames, flounder vs...
Did President Warren G. Harding coin the term normalcy in his famous Return to Normalcy speech? Turns out the word normalcy was already in use before Harding made it famous. Its synonym, normality, is generally the preferred term. Harding is also...
The increasingly musty expression like a broken record has caused some confusion among digital natives who’ve heard of broken records only in terms of sports! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Like A Broken Record”...
Ben Zimmer published a brilliant collection of internet memes from the past twenty years in a the journal American Speech. Memes like facepalming and the O, rly? owl have allowed us to communicate otherwise unwritable sentiments via the internet...
Twaggot n.—Gloss: An overtly homosexual male user of Twitter.com. Note: Twitter + faggot «Twaggot please. Maybe the new king of eyeliner.» —by Bruce LaBruce in Toronto, Canada Twitter.com June 26, 2009. (source: Double...