Why do spelling bees include such bizarre, obsolete words as cymotrichous? Why is New York called the Big Apple? Also, the stinky folk medicine tradition called an asifidity bag, the surprising number of common English phrases that come directly...
Though the Spanish language, among others, has its quirks and foreignisms, the English language really can’t be touched when it comes to complicated and irregular spelling. Thus, spelling bees are primarily an English-language phenomenon...
What do you call an expert speller? A “Words With Friends” enthusiast wants to know. Martha tells her that a great speller is called an orthographer or orthographist, from the Latin roots ortho- meaning “straight” or...
Greetings, word watchers! In this week's episode, we talk about "making money hand over fist," "don't take any wooden nickels," "peter out," "thrice-happy pair," colorful idioms from around the...
Hi, ho! Lots of “Behind The Scenes” news from “A Way with Words” this week, but first: In this week’s episode, we discuss “burrito babies” and other college slang. Also, “overegging the pudding,”...
Who coined supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is Gillian. I’m calling from Fort Worth, Texas. How...