A listener remembers her grandmother’s colorful comment when someone arrived late after getting lost: You went around your elbow to get to your thumb. Lots of similar sayings in English suggest roundabout routes or overcomplicated tasks, including...
How do you pronounce the word route? Does it rhyme with “boot” or “bout”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “How Do You Pronounce “Route”?” Hi there, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Mary Draven from Hayden, Idaho. We’re glad...
If you’re serious about writing a memoir, what topics should you include, and what can you leave out? And how honest can you really be about the other people in your life? Some of America’s leading memoirists wrote things they lived to regret. And:...
GPS art is the creation of a few bikers and runners who track their trips with an app and then post the image of the route they traveled online. The results so far include electronic “drawings” of Darth Vader, Yoda, and characters from Game of...
Do you ever spend your off-time doing something work related? This is known as a busman’s holiday or a postman’s holiday, as in the British understanding of holiday as a vacation or time off work. Research for a dictionary entry on postman’s holiday...
Rock climbers use the term beta to refer to any information they receive about a route before climbing it. Is it related to beta as in “beta-testing software”? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Rock Climbing Beta” Hi, you have A Way...
