A weep of willows, an embarrassment of weeds, and a pride of dandelions are listener-made collective terms for plants, following a recent conversation about the form. The fun depends on sound and sense: a churn of buttercups, a universe of cosmos, a...
Is the term “Oriental” offensive? Where do we get the phrase “not one iota”? Why do we tell someone to “take a gander”? And who coined the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” This kind of sudden, surprising turn in a sentence is called a paraprosdokian. Martha and Grant trade some examples. This is part of a...
If someone says, “That’s a good question,” do you find it annoying or insincere? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “That’s a Good Question” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi there. Hi...
We all misspeak from time to time, but how about when we mangle words on purpose? Do you ever say fambly instead of family, perazackly for exactly, or coinkydink for coincidence? When Grant recently wrote a newspaper column about saying things wrong...
“He’s sharp as the corner of a round table.” “She’s so sad she’s pulling a face as long as a fiddle.” If startling similes leaving you “grinning like a basket full of possum heads,” you’ll...
