A sixth-grade teacher in San Antonio, Texas, is skeptical about a story that gringo derives from a song lyric. He’s right. The most likely source of this word is the Spanish word for “Greek,” griego, a term applied to foreigners...
Jennifer in San Antonio, Texas, wants a word for a shortcut that ends up taking longer than the regular route, after one of her driving detours forced her to turn around and retrace her way. The plain opposite is longcut, and another playful...
A sixth-grade teacher from San Antonio, Texas, says he and his students are reading The Lord of the Rings. They’re curious about the words attercop, which means “spider” (and a relative of the word cobweb) and Tomnoddy, which means...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game where the answer to each clue is a word or phrase includes the vowels a, e, i, o, and u exactly one time each. For example, what’s a cute infant animal that’s yet to get its spikes? This is part of a...
Contrary to what your dictionary might tell you, there’s no one right way to pronounce won. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Ways to Pronounce “Won”” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Jake...
Is the term military brat a pejorative? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Military Brat” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Bill from San Antonio. Welcome, Bill, from San Antonio? San Antonio, Texas, yes...