Welcome to the A Way with Words newsletter, where "language" is our middle name. "Dangerous" was taken. This weekend we told you what a "trailer queen" and a "soup spitter" are, and we took a punny quiz about...
In this episode, Martha and Grant honor winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes, those wacky awards for weird academic research, and they help a caller decipher a puzzling word from a personals ad: what does paratereseomaniac mean?
Pass the Gatorade! Martha and Grant work up a sweat in this episode as they tackle a sports quiz and lob vocabulary questions back and forth. They also settle a family dispute about the pronunciation of eco-friendly and unlock the etymology of...
Unless you’ve been hiding out in a galaxy far, far away, you know that this is an election year. Grant and Martha talk about current political slang. Ever hear of glass pockets? Or horseracism? Is there an etymological connection between...
We play bingo on the air with Quiz Guy John Chaneski. His motives are not B9! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Bingo Lingo Word Quiz” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette. And I’m...
This week’s Slang This! contestant grapples with the slang terms squish and optempo. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Squish and Optempo” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett. And...