A haiku from artist Alan Nakagawa’s collection of poems about social distance celebrates the kind of companionship that plants provide. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Plant Haiku” Here’s another pandemic...
Why is a factory called a plant? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Factory vs. Plant” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is J.W. I’m from Cedar Hill, Texas, near Dallas. Welcome to the show, J.W. How can we...
We got a call from Nan Sterman, host of the public television gardening show A Growing Passion, who writes so much about plants that she’s looking for some alternatives to the verb “to plant.” But what to say if you don’t...
Cat face is a cute way to describe something like a piece of fruit or a tree that’s grown in on itself, giving it a puckered kind of indentation. Particularly in the African-American community, it’s used to denote a wrinkle to be ironed...
When you pick up a book of poems, how many do you read in one sitting? Some people devour several in a row, while others savor them much more slowly. Plus, it’s a problem faced by politicians and public speakers: When you have to stand in...
What’s the difference between an orchard and a grove? People plant orchards with trees meant to bear fruit or nuts, whereas groves aren’t necessarily planted. So an orange grove might be more accurately called an orange orchard. The problem is...