A Nevada listener says her mother used to ask her to collect the pearls after a meal, meaning “gather up all the unused dishes and utensils that didn’t need to be washed.” In Australian slang, such an item is often called a sunbeam. This is part of...
The crossword clue is “bread machine?” The answer has three letters. What is it? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bread Machine?” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. My name is Grant...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...
A 50-something boss in Reno, Nevada, wants suggestions on speaking with and writing for his younger co-workers. When does your own communication style make you sound out-of-date, and when does using younger folks’ slang make you sound like you’re...
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 titles...
Back in 1867 a newspaper in Nevada used the verb pungle to lovely effect: “All night the clouds pungled their fleecy treasure.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “More Pungle” We were talking about the word pungle early on and how...
