Grant shares an entomological—not etymological— riddle. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Entomological Riddle” Martha, I got another riddle for you. One of these days I’ll stump you. One of these days. Okay. Not...
Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words. Over the weekend we talked more about political language, "hair of the dog," "a fish rots from the head down," and "pareidolia." We also posted another language...
Tom from Phoenix still remembers losing a seventh-grade spelling bee over dilemma, because he had been taught there was a silent n and wrote dilemna. The standard spelling is dilemma, and the dictionaries checked don’t list dilemna. Still, Tom isn’t...
Nominations for Word of the Year 2007 In this episode, Grant offers peek at some expressions he’s nominating for the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year vote in January. Will it be “w00t,”...
A Florida eighth grader wants to know if a word she memorized for a spelling bee is real: agathokakological. Easy for her to say. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Agathokakological Means Made of Good and Evil” Hello...