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?
A listener from Texas heard an NPR report from Asia in which an interpreter translated a speaker’s words into English as “a whole new ball game.” He wants to know if that’s a literal translation from an Asian language, and if...
belly button n.— «Hakim was a negotiator for the arms for hostages deal and as his embarrassed testimony revealed, he also had a hand in setting up a secret account to provide for the family of the ring leader of the operation, an account...
snipe n.— «Already Hayworth’s people are attaching little notices on their signs, asking Mitchell not to steal them. In sign parlance, the small add-ons are called snipes. They won’t be the last.» —“The Contentious Land of Az...
out-of-building experience n.— «NPR member stations will want you to come to visit, talk to their journalists and meet with their listeners. Do it. The stations will also ask you to go on local call-in programs. This is very important and...
dirka-dirka interj.— «We have in the movie all the terrorists talk basically in this Arabic gibberish which they just go, you know, “Dirka-dirka, Muhammad, Muhammad Ali,” and they talk like—”Muhammad jihad,” and...