How should you pronounce the word jewelry? That prompts a conversation about the transposition of letters and sounds called metathesis— not only in jewelry, but many others including realtor, foliage, larynx, and introduce. This is part of a...
Did you learn the vowels as “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” “u,” and sometimes “y” and “w”? A caller who was taught that in second grade was left wondering: When and where does...
In Ireland you’ll find that some folks have an odd habit of gasping in mid-conversation. A Texan who lived in Dublin for years says he found this speech trait disconcerting. The hosts explain that this “pulmonic ingressive” is...
Yep, it's another newsletter from A Way with Words! There's something kind of special about the language a family invents for its own use, so we talked about it on this past weekend's show. We also tried to narrow down the difference...