A listener in Richardson, Texas, notes that before her mother married, her middle name was Knight and her last name was Chevallier. For those who know the French word for “knight,” chevalier, this made for some occasional chuckles. This...
What’s the linguistic connection between pretend and pretension or pretentious? They all go back the Latin praetendere, meaning to put something forward. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “How Do “Pretend” and...
Having a chip on one’s shoulder means spoiling for a fight. Frank from Richardson, Texas, and his son wondered what kind of chip that was after hearing about a Dallas Cowboys player’s tattoo combining his draft number with a potato chip...
An Indianapolis caller wonders if there’s any difference in meaning between the words scared and afraid. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Scared vs. Afraid” Hi there, you have A Way with Words. Hello, this is...
Add this to your list of paraprosdokians: Two guys walked into a bar. The third one ducked. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “A Paraprosdokian” From time to time on the show, we talk about paraphrostokians. You know...
“I’ll be there at three-ish.” “That shirt is bluish.” “It wasn’t a house— but it was house-ish.” OK, but what in the world does ish mean, exactly? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...