Hey-o! It's another newsletter from A Way with Words This past weekend's show was completely new. We tackled the expression "put a snap on the grouch bag," how to pronounce "patronize," and the rise of the German word...
How do you pronounce the word patronize? Is one pronunciation used if you say “Don’t patronize me!” and another one if you say “We patronize local businesses”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Why are cave explorers called spelunkers? How do you pronounce the word? A naturalist at Mystery Cave in Minnesota wants to know and in return she tells us how to tell a stalactite from a stalagmite. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Martha and Grant discuss advertising slogans and product names supposedly botched in translation. They also recommend an eclectic mix of books for the word-lover on your holiday list, from military slang to Yiddish. Plus a slang quiz on the words...
A listener from Falmouth, Maine, disagrees with his Canadian friends about how to pronounce the word aunt. He says it shouldn’t sound like the name of the insect. But is that the way most people pronounce this word for your mother’s...
Nominations for Word of the Year 2007 In this episode, Grant offers peek at some expressions he’s nominating for the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year vote in January. Will it be “w00t,”...