A Dallas listener is struck by the fact that Texans talk about East Texas, North Texas, South Texas, and West Texas. So why, she wonders, do people in other states say things like Southern Indiana and Northern California? This is part of a complete...
The 2010 winner of the “Best Picture” Oscar has a Seattle woman wondering about the term hurt locker. Ben Zimmer wrote about it recently in his column at the Visual Thesaurus and we talk about it, too. Here’s the searing poem by Brian Turner called...
The hosts talk about the tricks they use to remember how to spell certain words. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Spelling Tricks” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett. And I’m Martha Barnette. Everybody has a...
Sometimes the process of naming a pet takes a while. The hosts talk about how their dogs’ names evolved. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pet Name Evolution” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett. And I’m Martha...
The hosts talk about some verses from Essential Pleasures, Robert Pinsky’s anthology of poems meant to be read aloud. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Essential Pleasures Poetry” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant...
Some children don’t talk until they’re age three or older, then go on to do just fine. Why do some kids start speaking relatively late in life? The hosts talk about a recent Ask MetaFilter thread on that topic. This is part of a complete episode...
