Gary Provost, author of Make Your Words Work, made a career of offering great writing advice, including: “Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of...
“Hark your racket,” meaning, “shush,” is a variant of “hark your noise,” which pops up in Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine as far back as the 1940’s. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Hark Your Racket” Hello, you have A Way with Words...
The origin of the exclamation “Balderdash!”, meaning “nonsense,” isn’t entirely known. It is clear, however, that back in the 17th century balderdash could refer to a frothy mix of liquids, such as beer and buttermilk, or brandy and ale, and later...
It used to be that you called any mixed-breed dog a mutt. But at today’s dog parks, you’re just as likely to run into schnugs, bassadors, and dalmadoodles. Also, if someone has a suntan, you might say he’s brown as a berry. But then, when’s the last...
Gawpy is an old term for “foolish,” and refers to the image of a person gaping stupidly. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Gawpy” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, Martha. Hi. This is Oliver in Chicago. Hello, Oliver in Chicago...
Brown as a berry goes back to Chaucer and the 1300’s, when brown was the new dark purple. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Expression from The Canterbury Tales” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Yeah, my name is Jasper Oliver. I’m...
