Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski, who belongs to the National Puzzlers’ League, brought us a game inspired by the league’s newsletter. In this game, based on head-to-tail shifts, the first letter of a word moves to the back to form a new word, so if a...
Would you rather write in a language with no punctuation or without the use of similes or metaphors? Grant and Martha agree that texting has proven our ability to get a point across without periods or commas. On the other hand, sometimes an idea...
In airline slang, a leanover is an abbreviated version of a layover, or one in which there’s not enough time to actually lie down. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Leanover” More airline slang. You know what a lean over is? It...
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski is back with a game called Definitely Cryptic, where the article “a” is combined with a word to form a new word. Try this one: “glass container; slightly open.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Definitely...
Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has sandwiched together the first letters of first and last names for a trivia game about famous folks. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Celebrity Name Trivia Game” You’re listening to A Way with Words...
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...