Hello, friends — Good news! Our mini-podcast with Will Shortz is now on the “A Way with Words” site. Will created this quiz about anagrams and slang just for AWWW listeners. Give it a try: On to this week’s show: spoonerisms...
Why not have collective nouns for plants, like a “greasing of palms,” or a “pursing of tulips”? Martha shares some others collected on the site of food writer Gary Allen. This is part of a complete episode.
Martha shares more clever collective plant names, including a “mommy of poppies.” This is part of a complete episode.
Whoever wrote “The Book of Love” neglected to include the handy emoticon <3, which looks like a heart if you turn your head sideways. Grant and Martha talk about how that bit of affectionate shorthand can function as a verb, and about...
Lots of things happening in Language Land these days! First, we were amused by the New York Times’ blog post titled, “Iceland Volcano Spews Consonants and Vowels.” We’ll say! Speaking of the word “blog,” Grant is...
Dry a grape and it becomes a raisin, dry a plum and it turns into a prune. Why don’t we just call them dried grapes and dried plums? This is part of a complete episode.