With your support, 2021 will be a pivotal year for A Way with Words. With your help, and by tightening our budget, through 2019 and 2020, we’ve managed to weather the pandemic while still increasing listenership both on the radio and by podcast. So...
The disturbing sensation you feel when almost-human characters seem downright creepy is called the uncanny valley. Speaking of creepy, do you know someone with a morbid fear of clowns? There’s a term for that, too. Why do politicians suspend a...
Rebecca in Seattle says a friend claimed another beer would slate his thirst, while another suggested slay his thirst. The standard expression is slake your thirst, meaning to quench or satisfy it. Slay your thirst works as an eggcorn, a misheard...
We all know that the color pink is for boys and the color blue is for girls — at least, that’s how it was 100 years ago. Grant and Martha share the surprising history behind the colors we associate with gender. Plus, we go rollin’ in our hooptie...
Writing in the Guardian, Stuart Jeffries contends that our email boxes are being infested with exclamation marks, known as bangs or bangers (without mash) to some people. Jacob Rubin also wrote on the subject a couple of years ago in Slate. This is...
“I literally exploded with rage!” Using the word literally in this way grates on many a stickler’s ear. Moreover, if it’s okay to use the word “literally” figuratively, then what do you say when you actually do mean “literally”? The hosts discuss a...
