While watching a broadcast about the Artemis moon launch, Josh from Jacksonville, Florida, noted that amid all the precise language, scientists describing precise orbital adjustments used the word tad, as in just a tad, which seemed like the...
Why do we vote at a polling place? Pol in Middle English simply meant head, and polls are the place where heads are counted. The Middle English word for head also gives us get polliwog, a young frog with a wiggly head, and tadpole, those toads and...
Sean, a public affairs officer at Camp Pendleton, California, asks about gyrene, an old slang term for a Marine. The word appears in print as early as the 1890s. Although a doubtful popular theory derives it from GI plus marine, the Historical...
Greetings, earthlings. Here's another newsletter from A Way with Words! This past weekend's show was a repeat, although we tacked on a brand new call: what is the deal with bald-faced vs. bold-faced? Find out: Also discussed were...
Martha and Grant discuss advertising slogans and product names supposedly botched in translation. They also recommend an eclectic mix of books for the word-lover on your holiday list, from military slang to Yiddish. Plus a slang quiz on the words...
Stand back! It's another missive from A Way with Words. This past weekend's show took a look at word-geek books suitable for reading and gift-giving. We also took a shot at explaining "gedunk" (which means "ice...