Hi, ho! In this week’s episode, we discuss odd words, how children learn to talk, “in my wheelhouse,” “high as Cooter Brown,” and “good leather.” Greg Pliska metagrobolizes us with a quiz based on the 2011...
The Bangladeshi idiom translated as oiling your mustache in anticipation of the jackfruit tree bearing fruit roughly matches English don’t count your chickens before they hatch. The image depends on cultural context: jackfruit is juicy, a mustache...
A Fort Worth listener wonders about a claim she saw in a 1930s magazine. The article said that traditionally, a picket line was an area between the front lines of two opposing armies where soldiers might safely venture out to pick berries without...
A Houston woman says her family makes fun of her for saying “waste not, want not.” Does this proverb make literal sense? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Waste Not, Want Not” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this...
A father looking for the best dictionary for his college-freshman son has practical options. Online, OneLook.com searches references such as American Heritage and Merriam-Webster, while the paid Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged runs about $30 a...
For 341 years, the poets laureate of Britain have all been male. That just changed with the appointment of Britain’s new poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Her work has been described as “dealing with the darkest turmoil and the lightest...