In this week's episode, we go from hip-hop to a public television show about the intra- and inter-class conflicts in a British manor house. We also talk about "flupgrades," what you might call it when a software update hurts more than...
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.” Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: slatch. Also this week:...
Howdy! In this week’s episode of “A Way with Words,” we have a whole culch pile of conversation about Yankee dimes, hanging crepe, educational rubrics, and whether the language you speak influences how you think. Here ’tis: We also discussed...
A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get “on the stick.” The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is “on the ball.” Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: “on the...
Hitler weather n.— Note: Discussed in American Speech vol. 21, no. 1 (Feb., 1946), pp. 76-77, and vol. 22, no. 1 (Feb., 1947), pp. 74-75. «Amid the brilliant sunshine which Germans call “Hitler weather”—they used to call it “Kaiser weather”—the...
beat sweetener n.— «The New Yorker says White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is “a political John McEnroe, known for both his mercurial temperament and his tactical brilliance,” yet is also uncommonly indifferent to both criticism and praise...